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VA Ramps up Mental Health Care: Alaska Staff Has Been Working to Improve Access
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki often reminds us: as the tide of war recedes we have the opportunity, and the responsibility, to anticipate the needs of returning veterans. As these newest veterans return home, we must ensure that they have access to quality mental health care in order to successfully make this transition to civilian life.
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VA Recognizes 10 Years Of My HealtheVet Use, Success
To celebrate ten years of success with My HealtheVet, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is encouraging both veterans and servicemembers to utilize the personal health record (PHR) system. The system has a variety of benefits for users, including VA Blue Button, VA prescription refills, and secure provider messaging. Read More »
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VA Refines Scheduling Contract Timing, Sees Progress On Broad Tech Front
Stephen Warren, the chief information officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs, said Tuesday a final contract award for a new commercial scheduling system will likely happen in January and not by the end of 2014 as originally planned because of “an extensive amount of industry feedback” received on the system’s performance work statement...
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VA Researchers Testing Cheaper Clinical Trials Using Tech
Clinicians across more than 30 VA medical centers are taking part in a $10 million randomized clinical trial meant to compare two common treatments for hypertension. These doctors will not, however, noticeably change how they treat their patients or how they collect data about them. In fact, after veterans are enrolled in the trial, they will be asked to continue managing their blood pressure using their regular doctors, unlike in the vast majority of clinical trials where new doctors treat patients and study staff oversee them...
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VA Researching Natural Language Processing In EHRs To Prevent Suicide
The U.S. Department of Veterans affairs is researching the use of natural language processing within its electronic health records system to automate suicide risk alerts.
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VA Researching Natural Language Processing In EHRs To Prevent Suicide
The U.S. Department of Veterans affairs is researching the use of natural language processing within its electronic health records system to automate suicide risk alerts. Read More »
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VA Rolls Out Mobile App Pilots
The Department of Veterans Affairs is testing the viability and potential of mobile health technologies with several pilot projects. Read More »
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VA Says Claims Backlog Down 36 Percent Since March
Department of Veterans Affairs’ Under Secretary for Benefits Allison Hickey says the Veterans Benefits Administration is putting a big dent in the backlog of Veterans’ disability compensation and pension claims. In fact, the VBA has cut the backlog by 36 percent since last March, she told a recent hearing of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Read More »
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VA Says It Deferred 2012 Bonuses For Some Health Execs
Veterans Affairs Department spokesman Josh Taylor defended VA’s system of paying executive bonuses, telling Nextgov the payments are necessary to “attract and retain the best and brightest leaders.” Read More »
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VA Secretary McDonald Outlines Steps For VA Transformation at Institute of Medicine Annual Meeting
As the Nation’s foremost advisory body in medicine and healthcare, you know that the Department of Veterans Affairs is in the midst of overcoming problems involving access to healthcare. We own them, and we’re fixing them. But I know you also know that VA has a legacy of excellence, innovation, cutting-edge research, and achievements in healthcare delivery that is as broad and historically significant as it is profound—and often unrecognized. There’s something else. Right now, VA has before it perhaps its greatest opportunity to enhance care for Veterans in its history. Read More »
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VA Secretary Shinseki sees iEHR as remedy for claims backlog
The backlog of claims for veterans should progress more quickly once the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) completes its transition to the joint interactive EHR (iEHR), according to the Army Times. Read More »
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VA Secretary to Congress: We Don't Know What the Cerner EHR Will Cost
Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin, MD, told a Senate subcommittee on Wednesday he does not yet know the cost for the new Cerner electronic health record that the VA plans to purchase. While Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said he supports the decision to replace the VA’s existing Vista EHR, he worried the cost was not part of the 2018 budget. “I understand you don’t want to just pick a number,” Schatz told Shulkin. “But it’s not zero. And we’re about to mark this bill up and it’s difficult to do a markup when, lacking information, we’re expected to sort of book it at zero”...
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VA Seeks A 10 Percent IT Funding Boost In 2014
The Veterans Affairs Department requested $3.7 billion for its 2014 information technology budget -- a 10 percent jump over 2013 spending. W. Todd Grams, the department’s chief financial officer, told a press briefing Wednesday that IT is central to VA’s ability to deliver benefits. Read More »
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VA Seeks Information on EHR Replacement for VistA
The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued a request for information seeking industry feedback on how the VA might transition from its legacy electronic health record system to a commercial EHR. While it continues to modernize the decades-old Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) system, the VA is having second thoughts about whether the legacy EHR is able to meet its needs going forward...
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VA seeks partners for open source electronic health records system
The Veterans Affairs Department has released a draft request for proposals to develop the next generation of its next-generation electronic health record system based on open source software.
"As we work to ensure that we provide veterans with the best in health care, modernization of VistA is absolutely critical," VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said in a statement, referring to the Veterans Integrated System Technology Architecture, the agency's EHR system. "This move towards open source welcomes private sector partners to work with us to improve VistA, and is an important part of our strategy to ensure that VA clinicians have the best tools possible, and that veterans receive the best health care possible."
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