Although the Health and Human Services Department’s new “NHIN Direct” project might kill a possible revenue stream for some state health information exchanges, those exchanges should be able to make up the revenue in other ways, an HHS official said today. Read More »

The Veterans Affairs Department is looking for expert help in developing an open source software model for modernization of its long-standing VistA (Veterans Health Information and Systems and Technology Architecture) health records system.

The department published a solicitation on Jan. 26 for technical services for the Vista Open Source Custodial Foundation Acquisition, along with a Statement of Work for the program. Read More »

The Veterans Affairs Department put out a request on Wednesday for technical help to develop a new, modern version of its decades-old Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) electronic health record system.

In March 2010, an industry advisory group tapped by VA CIO Roger Baker recommended the department update VistA, which is based on open source models and offered as the international standard for hospitals.

During the decade 1997 to 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs spent $4 billion on health IT investments and saved more than $7 billion over the same period, a new study finds.

The study reported that the VA's use of technology lowered costs by a net of $3.09 billion, while improving quality, safety, and patient satisfaction. It was conducted by members of the Center for Information Technology Leadership, a Charlestown, Mass. academic research organization that assesses the impact of health information technologies. Read More »

We compare health information technology (IT) in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to norms in the private sector, and we estimate the costs and benefits of selected VA health IT systems. The VA spent proportionately more on IT than the private health care sector spent, but it achieved higher levels of IT adoption and quality of care. The potential value of the VA’s health IT investments is estimated at $3.09 billion in cumulative benefits net of investment costs. Read More »

Back in 2005, Phillip Longman wrote an article in the Washington Monthly, touting the strides the Veterans Administration had made in improving quality.  Since then, it has become the model for a fair number of reformers, who frequently cite its ability to control costs and coordinate care as proof that we should move towards such a system nationwide. Read More »

As the PCAST Workgroup ponders the meaning of a Universal Exchange Language and Data Element Access Services (DEAS), it is exploring what it means to exchange data at the "atomic", "molecular", and document level.   See Wes Rishel's excellent blog defining these terms. Read More »

Open source software continues to gain traction in the enterprise, with more than half the respondents in a recent survey saying they've adopted such software as part of their IT strategy, according to a new Gartner study. Read More »

As the Veterans Affairs Department considers an open source development program to modernize its Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) medical record system, officials eventually will have to decide whether to retain all or part of the existing computer language of the system, according to industry members involved in the project.

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We have noted that healthcare is a complex system that is particularly  information-intensive. We have noted that healthcare reform requires clinical leadership, process improvement and effective health IT.

In noting that healthcare IT has had mixed success to date, we have identified the important need to support the greater alignment of process improvements with information systems. Read More »