The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) have failed to advance sharing efforts to the extent that the legislative and executive branches of the United States Government intended them to do since the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense Health Resources Sharing and Emergency Operations Act was passed in 1982. Although numerous barriers exist to increased sharing, a fundamental one that exists in both organizations is the structural inertia inherent in large bureaucracies. Against the backdrop of a rapidly changing health care environment in the United States, the model of punctuated equilibrium was employed as a means of determining those circumstances more likely to bring about transformational, revolutionary organizational change along the lines envisioned by the executive and legislative branches. As a result, the adoption of federal policy calling for compulsory, large-scale sharing throughout all domains of both the VA and the DoD health care organizations is recommended. Adoption of this policy is the best means of ensuring cost efficiency, greater access to care, and quality care for the health care beneficiaries of both the VA and the DoD.