The Future of GCPR: A Hybrid Approach

Abstract

On November 8, 1997, in response to the December 1996 Final Report of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses, President Clinton charged the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) with creating a lifelong medical record for servicemen and servicewomen. His directive reinforced initiatives already undertaken in August 1997 by the VA/DoD Executive Council, led by co-chairs Dr. Kenneth Kizer, the Under Secretary for Health in VA, and Dr. Edward Martin, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Health in the DoD. Drs. Kizer and Martin instructed the CIOs of their respective organizations to identify potential information technology-sharing opportunities. In December 1997, the Council endorsed the recommendation that the two agencies join together in the development of a “common medical record.”

“... I am directing the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to create a new Force Health Protection Program. Every soldier, sailor, airman and marine will have a comprehensive, lifelong medical record of all illnesses and injuries they suffer, the care and inoculations they receive and their exposure to different hazards. These records will help us prevent illness and identify and cure those that occur...”

—President Clinton