H.R. 7558

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7558 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7558

To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs to jointly adopt and use interoperable image-sharing software 
technology for the purpose of sharing medical images and related data 
at medical facilities of the Department of Defense and Department of 
Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 12, 2026

Mr. Schweikert introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on 
Veterans' Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs to jointly adopt and use interoperable image-sharing software 
technology for the purpose of sharing medical images and related data 
at medical facilities of the Department of Defense and Department of 
Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Achieving Interoperability of 
Medical Systems Act of 2025'' or the ``AIMS Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:
(1) Section 1635 of the National Defense Authorization Act 
for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 110-181; 10 U.S.C. 1071 note) 
directed the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs to jointly--
(A) develop and implement electronic record systems 
that allow full interoperability of personal health 
care information between the Department of Defense and 
the Department of Veterans Affairs; and
(B) accelerate the exchange of such information 
between the two departments.
(2) Such section established the Department of Defense-
Department of Veterans Affairs Interagency Program Office (with 
a Director and Deputy Director) for such purposes and 
authorized the Secretaries to carry out pilot projects to 
assess the feasibility and advisability of various 
technological approaches to the development of the record 
systems.
(3) Such section also requires--
(A) the Director of the Interagency Program Office 
to submit to the Secretaries and to Congress annual 
reports on the activities of the Office;
(B) the Secretaries to make such reports available 
to the public; and
(C) the Comptroller General of the United States to 
conduct semiannual assessments of the progress of the 
Secretaries in carrying out the requirements of such 
section.

SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 
INTEROPERABILITY OF MEDICAL IMAGES AND RELATED DATA.

(a) In General.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the 
Secretary of Defense shall jointly adopt and use interoperable image-
sharing software technology--
(1) accessible by facilities of the military health 
service, as well as the GENESIS platform of the military health 
service and the Federal Electronic Health Record platform of 
the Department of Veterans Affairs; and
(2) at each Department of Veterans Affairs and Department 
of Defense medical facility.
(b) Scope.--The technology adopted and used under subsection (a) 
shall provide for interoperability between all of the following:
(1) Military medical centers included in the Military 
Health System.
(2) Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities and 
clinics.
(3) Non-Department providers that have entered into 
agreements with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs under section 
1703 of title 38, United States Code.
(c) Plan.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs shall provide to the Committees on Armed Services and the 
Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 
Senate a briefing and submit to such committees a report on the plan of 
the Secretaries, and an associated timeline, for achieving the full 
interoperability of medical images and related data between the 
Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs in accordance 
with subsection (a). The plan shall include each of the following:
(1) The expansion of the services provided pursuant to 
contracts entered into between the Secretary of Defense, the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and application-based vendors 
that meet interoperability standards.
(2) An assessment and comparison of the baseline medical 
image interoperability that exists, as of the date of the 
enactment of this Act, between the Department of Defense and 
the Department of Veterans Affairs and external partners of 
such departments, including--
(A) non-Department of Veterans Affairs imaging 
providers described in section 1703(c) of title 38, 
United States Code; and
(B) imagining providers who are described in 
section 199.6 of title 32 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations, or any successor regulation.
(3) An identification of one or more licensed 
interoperability software technology solutions of choice that--
(A) is shared by hospitals and health care 
providers to benefit patients before and after 
discharge from provider care and that is accessible to 
current and future providers, in compliance with 
applicable accessibility requirements, including mobile 
user interface, as established in the Information and 
Communication Technology and Software portions of the 
Revised 508 Standards under part 1194 of title 36 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor 
regulation, and in adherence with the Web Content 
Accessibility Guidelines 2.1AA, as established by the 
World Wide Web Consortium and in effect on the date of 
the enactment of this Act;
(B) enables the electronic medical records system 
of a hospital, or in the case of a Department of 
Veterans Affairs facility, the Federal Electronic 
Health Record of the Department, to interface with 
interoperability technology and other electronic 
medical records systems and providers to promote mobile 
connectivity between hospital systems and facilitate 
increased communication between hospital staff and 
providers that use different or distinctive online and 
mobile platforms and information systems when treating 
acute patients;
(C) captures and forwards clinical data, including 
laboratory results and images, provider notes, 
historical clinical conditions, procedures, 
medications, cardiology testing results, and vital 
signs, and provides synchronous patient clinical data 
to health care providers regardless of geographic 
location;
(D) provides a synchronous data exchange that is 
not batched or delayed, at the point the clinical data 
is captured and available in the electronic record 
system of a hospital;
(E) is capable of providing proactive alerts to 
health care providers on their smartphones or a smart 
device;
(F) allows both synchronous and asynchronous 
communication using a native smartphone application;
(G) is mobile, can be used on multiple electronic 
devices, and includes the industry standard 39 built-in 
application for the two most popular operating systems 
and a built-in application available to all users;
(H) as patient-centric communication and is tracked 
with date and time stamping;
(I) provides interoperability to include imaging-
related workflows of image exchange, sharing, and 
collaboration;
(J) provides enterprise-wide deployment that is 
comparable to the size and complexity of the largest 
integrated health care system in the country;
(K) allows a patient to manage their own health 
using a mobile application in alignment with wearable 
technology devices or the function referred to as the 
``Share My Health Data'' available through the Veterans 
Health Administration;
(L) adheres to integration standards for software 
applications to connect to an electronic health record 
system, or in the case of a Department of Veterans 
Affairs medical facility or a Military Health System 
facility, use a Federal Electronic Health Record 
system, as established by the Office of the National 
Coordinator for Health Information Technology of the 
Department of Health and Human Services, including--
(i) Substitutable Medical Applications, 
Reusable Technologies on Fast Healthcare 
Interoperability Resources, known as ``SMART on 
FHIR'', which allows third-party applications 
to integrate directly with electronic health 
records and patient portals;
(ii) open authorization protocol 2.0 
(OAuth2) for session authentication, which 
bolsters security and patient safety by only 
allowing authorized users with validated access 
to view, share, and import images and related 
data; and
(iii) Digital Imaging and Communications in 
Medicine, which is the regulated standard for 
medical images; and
(M) is cost-effective with a high return on 
investment that is supported by the use of artificial 
intelligence in the image sharing workflow.
(d) Requirements for Plan.--In developing the plan required under 
subsection (b), the Secretaries shall ensure that--
(1) the software used for interoperable medical images and 
related data of the Departments is designed to--
(A) improve health care delivery and quality by 
addressing the increased costs, delays, and patient 
burden of repeat images caused by the couriering of 
compact discs and DVD-ROMs as the primary mechanism for 
sharing patients' medical images in the continuum of 
care;
(B) the plan includes the development, by not later 
than two years after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, of a robust data storage platform capable of 
storing health data from the Department of Veterans 
Affairs, the military health service, and health 
information exchanges used by non-Department providers 
that have entered into agreements with the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs under section 1703 of title 38, United 
States Code;
(C) provide patient-centered care by facilitating 
faster diagnoses, enabling more informed decision-
making and promoting better communication;
(D) support more efficient use of the time of 
clinical and support staff and improve retention by 
helping to prevent burnout; and
(E) promote the effective use of shared services 
between the Departments, including joint facilities and 
military treatment facilities that provide clinic space 
for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and in 
coordination with non-Department providers that have 
entered into agreements with the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs under section 1703 of title 38, United States 
Code; and
(2) the plan includes an implementation timeline and 
associated milestones, and an identification of the projected 
total cost.
(e) Reports.--Not later than six months after the date of the 
submission of the report required under subsection (b), and annually 
months thereafter, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs shall jointly provide a briefing and submit to the 
Committees on Armed Services and the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of 
the House of Representatives and the Senate on--
(1) any updates to the plan included in the report required 
under subsection (b); and
(2) metrics and quantified cost and time savings associated 
with using an interoperable software solution in health care 
that complies with the health insurance portability and 
accountability act privacy standards under part 160 and part 
164, subpart of title 4 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as 
in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
(f) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) The term ``GENESIS'' means the electronic health record 
system known as ``MHS GENESIS'' that is used by the military 
health service.
(2) The term ``military treatment facility'' has the 
meaning given such term in section 1073c of title 10, United 
States Code.
(3) The term ``electronic health record'' means an 
electronic version of a patient's medical history, that--
(A) is maintained by the provider over time, and 
may include all of the key administrative clinical data 
relevant to that person's care under a particular 
provider, including demographics, progress notes, 
problems, medications, vital signs, past medical 
history, immunizations, laboratory data and radiology 
reports;
(B) automates access to information and has the 
potential to streamline the clinician's workflow; and
(C) has the ability to support other care-related 
activities directly or indirectly through various 
interfaces, including evidence-based decision support, 
quality management, and outcomes reporting.
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