VA/DoD Health IT Sharing Program Home

VA/DoD Health IT Sharing Program

The VA/DoD Health IT Sharing (HITS) Program Office reports to the VHA Chief Information Officer in the VHA Office of Information (OI) and directly supports the VA mission and efforts to promote quality healthcare for veterans and eligible service members including National Guard soldiers and reservists. The VA/DoD Health IT Sharing Program was launched in 2000 and elevated to full Program Status in May 2004.

The program serves as an umbrella organization responsible for the oversight and coordination of VA/DoD health IT projects and programs within VA. These projects fall within the VA/DoD Joint Electronic Records Interoperability (JEHRI) strategy. Specific objectives of the JEHRI strategy include:

Identifying opportunities for VA/DoD collaboration and cooperation
Supporting the seamless transition of veterans from military service through the provision of high-quality health information technology solutions
Facilitating and supporting the development of mutually beneficial health information technology sharing agreements between VHA and the Military Health System (MHS)

Pursuant to JEHRI, the VA/DoD Interoperability suite of systems is comprised of:

FHIE - One-way enterprise exchange of text data
BHIE - Bidirectional real-time exchange of text data
CHDR - Bi directional real-time enterprise exchange of computable data

In addition to oversight and coordination of the JEHRI Program, VA/DoD HITS Program office participates in the program management for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) IM/IT Demonstration Sites as well as Joint Incentive Program initiatives on behalf of the VHA CIO. The NDAA Demonstration Sites were mandated by Section 722 of the FY 2003 NDAA, P.L. 107-314 , which required that VA and DoD select no fewer than three demonstration projects involving budget/financial management; staffing/assignment; and Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) coordinated systems. The NDAA Demonstration Sites are authorized to run through FY 2007. The JIF Initiatives were authorized by Section 721 of the FY 2003 NDAA. The JIF provisions call upon VA and DoD to establish a joint fund to support VA/DoD sharing initiatives proposed by local and enterprise level sharing partners. To date, several of the current JIF initiatives are information management and technology related. As with the NDAA Demonstration Site projects, the VA/DoD HITS Program Office maintains an active role in the oversight and program management of IM/IT JIF initiatives. The VA/DoD HITS Program Office maintains significant Executive Reporting responsibility for these initiatives, including internal reporting requirements and external reports to stakeholders such as the Government Accountability Office and various Congressional committees.

The JEHRI initiatives, NDAA Demonstration Site projects and JIF initiatives fall under the purview of the Chief Information Officers for VHA and the MHS, in partnership known as the DoD/VA Health Executive Council IM/IT Work Group. On behalf of the VHA CIO, the VA/DoD HITS Program Office participates in the day to day management and program oversight of these projects. At the executive level, all such projects fall under the purview of the DoD/VA Health Executive Council (HEC). The HEC is co-chaired by the VA Under Secretary for Health and the DoD Assistant Secretary of Defense, Health Affairs. The HEC and its counterpart, the Benefits Executive Council or BEC, report up to the DoD/VA Joint Executive Council (JEC) . The JEC was formally chartered to permit the VA Deputy Secretary and the DoD Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness to identify opportunities for mutually beneficial formal collaboration and sharing.

Find out more about us!

VA/DoD HITS FACT SHEET

VA/DoD Health Information Sharing - 2007 Slide Show (large file)

Reviewed/Updated Date: May 1, 2008