Composite Health Care System (CHCS)

The Veterans Health Administration's hospital software, VistA, is a computing legend. Few pieces of software have become the subject of a popular book (Best Care Anywhere), won repeated awards for their usability, or been credited with a 180-degree turn-around in an organization's quality. But VistA is getting long in the tooth, and many--including now the VA itself--are questioning whether it's time for something new.The speculations aren't just about VistA. They extend to all health care software of that generation, including the industry's leading electroinc health record (EHR) system--Epic--and the venerable Intermountain Healthcare.

Read More »

The obstacles to continue moving U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in a common direction with regard to their clinical IT systems are fairly well-known. Having made that statement, it may therefore seem strange that this blog suggests that a conceptually simple technical approach may have the potential to untie the Gordian knot that has defeated many previous efforts. The proposed approach is not some yet-to-be-developed technology that exists only on Powerpoint slides. In fact, the proposed approach is based on technology that has already been validated by the-powers-that-be – at taxpayer expense – and the official conclusion in the official report on file at the DoD(1) states unambiguously and explicitly that the technology works as claimed is scalable, and can handle very large M/Caché systems.

Read More »