Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed the Pentagon to hold a full and open competition for the core architecture in its electronic health records system, Federal News Radio reports.
Michael O’Connell writes Hagel sent a memo announcing his decision Tuesday to Frank Kendall, defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics; and Jessica Wright, acting under secretary for personnel and readiness.
The Pentagon’s market research showed a commercial product would be a better fit than the Department of Veterans Affairs‘ VistA setup as the departments aim to share information between both EHR systems, according to the memo.
Hagel wrote the a competitive process intends to give DoD “access to increased current capability and future growth in capability by leveraging ongoing advances in the commercial marketplace, ” according to the report.
