News

Summaries of open source, health care, or health IT news and information from various sources on the web selected by Open Health News (OHNews) staff. Links are provided to the original news or information source, e.g. news article, web site, journal,blog, video, etc.

See the following -

VA Seeks To Quadruple Funding For Paperless Claims System

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | April 8, 2013

The Veterans Affairs Department will request a discretionary budget of $63.5 billion in 2014, a four percent increase over the 2013 funding levels President Obama approved last month and $500 million below what the department originally sought  for 2013, the White House said in a preliminary release of the VA budget. Read More »

VA Shifts Focus on Female Veterans Research

Leo Shane III | Stars and Stripes | March 28, 2012

During a stop in Wyoming on Tuesday, Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said that his department has improved in caring for the needs of female veterans, but must do more to prepare for the next generation of military women about to leave the service. Read More »

VA Sponsors Contest to Find Best Possible Scheduling Software

Stephen Spotswood | US Medicine | March 1, 2013

VA is currently seeking assistance in finding ways to better allocate this resource in the form of modernized scheduling software and in October launched the VA Medical Appointment Scheduling Contest (vascheduling.challenge.go). It is a competition soliciting private industry to encourage the creation of updated, open-source software that would accommodate the rapidly evolving needs of the department. Read More »

VA St. Louis Health Care System To Install LiveData PeriOp Manager, With DSS Integration To VistA Electronic Health Record System

Press Release | Document Storage Systems (DSS), LiveData | December 16, 2013

LiveData, Inc. today announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System in St. Louis has purchased LiveData PeriOp Manager, the company’s operational intelligence solution for the perioperative setting. LiveData and partner Document Storage Systems, Inc. Read More »

VA Starts Campaign To Raise PTSD Awareness

Press Release | Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) | June 27, 2013

In observance of post-traumatic stress disorder awareness month, the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD invites the public to participate in its “Take the Step” campaign. Read More »

VA Steps Up On Women's Health Care

Kathryn Smith | Politico | May 1, 2013

The nation’s imagination may be captured by the expanding combat role of women in the U.S. military. But for the Department of Veterans Affairs, there’s a more pragmatic challenge. Read More »

VA Study: E-Records Enhance Veterans' Health Care

Scott Rogers | The New Star | February 24, 2014

Access to electronic records has enhanced patient and doctor communication among the country’s veterans, according to a recent U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs study and local veteran medical providers agree communication and satisfaction with health care have improved. Read More »

VA System: Obama's Ultimate Failure

Susan Stamper Brown | Columbus Telegram | April 7, 2013

Sadly, bureaucracy is a time-honored tradition in the United States government, but perhaps no greater bureaucratic juggernaut exists today than the Veteran's Administration (VA) run by the Obama Administration. Read More »

VA Takes Next Step to Modernize Scheduling System

Press Release | US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) | August 25, 2014

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced plans to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a new Medical Appointment Scheduling System; the next step in a series of actions VA has taken to replace its antiquated legacy scheduling system.  The new system will improve access to care for Veterans by providing medical schedulers with cutting-edge, management-based scheduling software.  The RFP will be made public by the end of September 2014; eligible vendors will have 30 days to respond from the day of issuance. Read More »

VA Takes Significant Steps On Benefits Backlog, Digitization

Jennifer Bresnick | EHR Intelligence | December 11, 2013

The Department of Veterans Affair’s hard work to turn around one of its biggest PR problems is starting to pay off as busy staff members are finally making a significant dent in the enormous backlog of disability benefits claims for veterans. Read More »

VA testing cash prizes to improve its health record system

Jared Serbu | Federal News Radio | February 1, 2013

The Department of Veterans Affairs is trying out a new concept for IT acquisition. Rather than paying vendors to build systems according to rigorous government specifications that might, one day, meet the agency's mission, it's offering cash prizes to any vendor who can prove their product successfully integrates with its electronic health records system. Read More »

VA Tests Teleconference Training for Primary-care Docs

Rich Daly | ModernHealthcare.com | July 11, 2012

The U.S. Veterans Affairs Department is testing a new take on telemedicine at 11 sites across the country. Read More »

VA To Add VLER Exchange Communities In 2013

Mary Mosquera | Government Health IT | October 19, 2012

The Veterans Affairs Department will add over the next year to the 13 regions of the country where VA and Defense Department medical facilities share information with providers in the private sector as part of the virtual lifetime electronic record program (VLER). Read More »

VA To Double Telehealth Consults To Veterans

Eric Wicklund | Government Health IT | November 2, 2012

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which used telehealth to connect with an estimated 460,000 veterans in the past year, is looking to double that number in the coming year with an aggressive campaign that includes new and expanded services. Read More »

VA To Launch Several Health Apps After Year-Long Pilot Program

Aditi Pai | MobiHealthNews | September 9, 2014

The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to launch several new mobile apps this fall, according to a report from Federal News Radio...

Read More »