The GAO said the two agencies have made some progress in sharing the health information of patients who receive care from both departments and electronically transfering laboratory work orders and results. But they still have not developed a clearly defined project management plan -- something the GAO had previously called on them to do.

The agencies have been working on ways to electronically exchange patient information for eight years, but have run into delays, the GAO said. In addition, they have not yet fully populated the repositories that will store the data for future health systems, meaning much work remains to be done before virtual medical records are shared.

Even though a joint agency report in 2004 said the Federal Health Information Exchange program was fully operational -- and providers at all VA medical centers and clinics nationwide had access to data on separated service members -- not all of the DOD medical information was captured in the existing health information system, the GAO said.

"Developing an electronic interface that will enable [the] VA and DOD to exchange computable patient medical records is a highly complex undertaking that could lead to substantial benefits -- improving the quality of health care and disability claims processing for the nation's service members and veterans," Linda Koontz, director of information management issues at the GAO, said in testimony last week before a Senate subcommittee.

Carl Hendricks, DOD's Military Health System CIO said in a statement that "DOD and VA share health information today." But he went on to note that the two agencies continue to work on ways to improve the systems now in place.