Department of Defense (DoD)

See the following -

VA Post-iEHR Strategy Takes Shape As VistA Evolution

David Perera | FierceGovernmentIT | January 29, 2014

The Veterans Affairs Department's immediate post-iEHR strategy for modernizing its electronic health record is taking shape under the banner of "VistA Evolution," with the Veterans Health Administration releasing Jan. 27 a solicitation for support services in its office of Health Systems Informatics. Read More »

VA Prescribing Tranquilizers For PTSD Despite Warnings Against

Robin Wulffson | Examiner.com | April 9, 2013

If you are a veteran suffering from with post-traumatic stress disorder and are receiving a type of tranquilizer known as a benzodiazepine, such as Valium or Xanax, you are receiving the wrong medication. A VA clinical psychologist noted that veterans diagnosed with PTSD are still being prescribed these medications by Department of Veterans Affairs physicians despite VA guidelines advising against their use for the condition. Read More »

VA Pushes DoD To Adopt VistA As Starting Point For Electronic Health Record

Jared Serbu | Federal News Radio | March 28, 2013

Ever since the Defense Department and the Veterans Affairs Department decided to step back from their approach to building a joint electronic health record earlier this year, DoD has been searching for a new electronic records system. As DoD nears a decision point, VA is making the case that its own system, VistA, would make a great fit for both departments. Read More »

VA Puts PTSD/TBI Research Cart Before Care Horse

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | September 20, 2012

Yesterday the Veterans Affairs Department said  it and the Defense Department will pump $100 million into studies of post-traumatic  stress disorder (PTSD) and  mild traumatic brain disorder (mTBI) and today the House Veterans Affairs Committee reported that the VA lags woefully behind in hiring mental health professionals to treat these and other conditions. Read More »

VA Says Claims Backlog Down 36 Percent Since March

Diana Manos | Government Health IT | December 18, 2013

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 »

VA Seeks 7 Percent IT Budget Boost, Passes on Defense Health Record Hosting

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | February 13, 2012

After two years without an increase, the Veterans Affairs Department requested a $3.37 billion information technology budget in 2013, up $216 million, or slightly less than 7 percent, from $3.11 billion in 2012. Just over $2 billion or 62 percent of that budget would be devoted to health care systems deployed to 152 department hospitals. Read More »

VA Seeks A 10 Percent IT Funding Boost In 2014

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | April 11, 2013

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 »

VA Seeks Information on EHR Replacement for VistA

Greg Slabodkin | Health Data Management | August 12, 2016

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 Shifts VLER Work to $12B Contract

Nicole Blake Johnson | Federal Times | February 9, 2012

The Veterans Affairs Department is turning to companies on its $12 billion information technology contract to help develop the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record, an initiative to provide veterans and service members with instant electronic access to their health and benefits information and other services.

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VA Shifts VLER Work to $12B Contract

Nicole Blake Johnson | Federal Times | February 9, 2012

The Veterans Affairs Department is turning to companies on its $12 billion information technology contract to help develop the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Health Record, an initiative to provide veterans and service members with instant electronic access to their health and benefits information and other services.

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's Blue Button Now At 1 Million Users, Aims At 100 Million Soon

Jared Serbu | Federal News Radio | September 12, 2012

Two years ago, the Department of Veterans Affairs' Blue Button project started with the idea that VA could improve veterans' health outcomes by giving them something they'd been clamoring for: easy access to their own health records that had theretofore been locked up in VA's data systems and visible only to health care providers. Read More »

VA, Defense ditch plans for common EHR

Joe Conn | Modern Healthcare | February 6, 2013

The long march to interoperability between the electronic health-records systems of the Veterans Affairs Department and the Department of Defense passed yet another milestone Tuesday as the secretaries of both announced they were scrapping a 5-year-old plan to achieve exchange capabilities by creating a single, common EHR for both healthcare systems.

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VA, DoD Award Contract to Work on 'Heart' of Integrated Record System

Nicole Blake Johnson | Federal Times | February 9, 2012

The Veterans Affairs and Defense departments achieved a major milestone last month in their quest to develop an integrated electronic health record (iEHR) system for service members and veterans.

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VA, DoD Climb The Stairs To Interoperability Together

Michael O'Connell | Federal News Radio | November 14, 2013

Leaders in the healthcare community are thinking of ways they can use data to improve the quality of health care. The departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense have joined forces to create VistA Evolution, a system that allows the exchange of electronic health records information between the two. Read More »