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currence of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, from
among employees of the Department of Defense and
the Department of Veterans Affairs in the Senior Ex-
ecutive Service who are qualified to direct the develop-
ment and acquisition of major information technology
capabilities.
(B) The Deputy Director shall be appointed by
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, with the concur-
rence of the Secretary of Defense, from among employ-
ees of the Department of Defense and the Department
of Veterans Affairs in the Senior Executive Service
who are qualified to direct the development and ac-
quisition of major information technology capabili-
ties.
(4) ADDITIONAL GUIDANCE.—In addition to the
direction, supervision, and control provided by the
Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs, the Office shall also receive guidance from the
Department of Veterans Affairs-Department of De-
fense Joint Executive Committee under section 320 of
title 38, United States Code, in the discharge of the
functions of the Office under this section.
(5) TESTIMONY.—Upon request by any of the ap-
propriate committees of Congress, the Director and
the Deputy Director shall testify before such com-
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mittee regarding the discharge of the functions of the
Office under this section.
(d) FUNCTION.—The function of the Office shall be to
develop and prepare for deployment, by not later than Sep-
tember 30, 2010, a joint electronic health record to be uti-
lized by both the Department of Defense and the Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs in the provision of medical care
and treatment to members of the Armed Forces and vet-
erans, which health record shall comply with applicable
interoperability standards, implementation specifications,
and certification criteria (including for the reporting of
quality measures) of the Federal Government.
(e) SCHEDULES AND BENCHMARKS.—Not later than
30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall
jointly establish a schedule and benchmarks for the dis-
charge by the Office of its function under this section, in-
cluding each of the following:
(1) A schedule for the establishment of the Office.
(2) A schedule and deadline for the establishment
of the requirements for the joint electronic health
record described in subsection (d), including coordina-
tion with the Office of the National Coordinator for
Health Information Technology in the development of
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a nationwide interoperable health information tech-
nology infrastructure.
(3) A schedule and associated deadlines for any
acquisition and testing required in the development
and deployment of the joint electronic health record.
(4) A schedule and associated deadlines and re-
quirements for the deployment of the joint electronic
health record.
(5) Proposed funding for the Office for each of
fiscal years 2009 through 2013 for the discharge of its
function.
(f) PILOT PROJECTS.—
(1) AUTHORITY.—In order to assist the Office in
the discharge of its function under this section, the
Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs may, acting jointly, carry out one or more pilot
projects to assess the feasability and advisability of
various technological approaches to the achievement of
the joint electronic health record described in sub-
section (d).
(2) TREATMENT AS SINGLE HEALTH CARE SYS-
TEM.—For purposes of each pilot project carried out
under this subsection, the health care system of the
Department of Defense and the health care system of
the Department of Veterans Affairs shall be treated as
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a single health care system for purposes of the regula-
tions promulgated under section 264(c) of the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
(42 U.S.C. 1320d–2 note).
(g) STAFF AND OTHER RESOURCES.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense and
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall assign to the
Office such personnel and other resources of the De-
partment of Defense and the Department of Veterans
Affairs as are required for the discharge of its func-
tion under this section.
(2) ADDITIONAL SERVICES.—Subject to the ap-
proval of the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary
of Veterans Affairs, the Director may utilize the serv-
ices of private individuals and entities as consultants
to the Office in the discharge of its function under
this section. Amounts available to the Office shall be
available for payment for such services.
(h) ANNUAL REPORTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than January 1,
2009, and each year thereafter through 2014, the Di-
rector shall submit to the Secretary of Defense and the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and to the appropriate
committees of Congress, a report on the activities of
the Office during the preceding calendar year. Each
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report shall include, for the year covered by such re-
port, the following:
(A) A detailed description of the activities
of the Office, including a detailed description of
the amounts expended and the purposes for
which expended.
(B) An assessment of the progress made by
the Department of Defense and the Department
of Veterans Affairs in the development and im-
plementation of the joint electronic health record
described in subsection (d).
(2) AVAILABILITY TO PUBLIC.—The Secretary of
Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall
make available to the public each report submitted
under paragraph (1), including by posting such re-
port on the Internet website of the Department of De-
fense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, respec-
tively, that is available to the public.
(i) COMPTROLLER GENERAL ASSESSMENT OF IMPLE-
MENTATION.—Not later than six months after the date of
the enactment of this Act and every six months thereafter
until the completion of the implementation of the joint elec-
tronic health record described in subsection (d), the Comp-
troller General of the United States shall submit to the ap-
propriate committees of Congress a report setting forth the
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assessment of the Comptroller General of the progress of the
Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Af-
fairs in developing and implementing the joint electronic
health record.
(j) FUNDING.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense and
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall each contribute
equally to the costs of the Office in fiscal year 2008
and fiscal years thereafter. The amount so contributed
by each Secretary in fiscal year 2008 shall be up to
$10,000,000.
(2) SOURCE OF FUNDS.—(A) Amounts contrib-
uted by the Secretary of Defense under paragraph (1)
shall be derived from amounts authorized to be appro-
priated for the Department of Defense for the Defense
Health Program and available for program manage-
ment and technology resources.
(B) Amounts contributed by the Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs under paragraph (1) shall be derived
from amounts authorized to be appropriated for the
Department of Veterans Affairs for Medical Care and
available for program management and technology re-
sources.
(k) JOINT ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD DEFINED.—
In this section, the term ‘‘joint electronic health record’’