Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

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2012 Open Source Think Tank Conference Exec Summary Released

The much awaited report on the 2012 Open Source Think Tank conference in Napa, CA has just been released. The Executive Summary of the report is available here. This report is of great significance as a significant portion of this year's Think Tank was focused on the open source strategy of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

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2013 Federal IT Budget Flat at $78.8 Billion

Jill R. Aitoro | Washington Business Journal | February 14, 2012

Three of the major departments to see IT budgets go up included the Treasury Department, HHS and the VA...The 6.9 increase included in the VA's $3.33 billion IT budget will support its Blue Button initiative to provide veterans with a simple way to access and download health records electronically...

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2014 Budget Request: Veterans Affairs

Molly Bernhart Walker | FierceGovernmentIT | April 10, 2013

Under President Obama's fiscal 2014 budget request, information technology systems at the Veterans Affairs Department would receive a total discretionary budget authority of $3.683 billion. That means the budget for IT systems would be 15.16 percent more than the current year amount under the continuing resolution when accounting for inflation... Read More »

3 Ways DoD And VA Are Accelerating Patient Data Exchange Via iEHR

Tom Sullivan | Government Health IT | February 6, 2013

Whereas the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments are working toward a joint iEHR that would, come 2017, wrap all patient data into a single record accessible to clinicians in both departments, DoD Secretary Leon Panetta and VA’s Secretary Eric Shinseki pushed their staffs to accelerate data exchange and interoperability where they can now, rather than waiting. Read More »

5 Government Health Challenges To Watch

Anthony Brino | Government Health IT | June 25, 2013

The Obama Administration brought a new public policy strategy to the federal government in 2009: challenges, with prize money for private organizations that design solutions (typically software or apps) for policy problems. Read More »

5 Problematic HIT Projects Costing The Government Billions

Dan Bowman | FierceHealthIT | July 26, 2013

Cost overruns and missed deadlines for several federal agency health technology projects are costing the government "billions of dollars," according to a Government Accountability Office report focusing on the inefficiency of agency IT initiatives published Thursday. Read More »

A 40-Year 'Conspiracy' at the VA

Arthur Allen | Politico | March 19, 2017

Four decades ago, in 1977, a conspiracy began bubbling up from the basements of the vast network of hospitals belonging to the Veterans Administration. Across the country, software geeks and doctors were puzzling out how they could make medical care better with these new devices called personal computers. Working sometimes at night or in their spare time, they started to cobble together a system that helped doctors organize their prescriptions, their CAT scans and patient notes, and to share their experiences electronically to help improve care for veterans...

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A Better Way Forward

Jeff Millter | TIME | October 1, 2012

The recent headline on the Drudge Report screamed, MORE AMERICANS NOW COMMIT SUICIDE THAN DIE IN CAR CRASHES. In a Wall Street Journal opinion article last week, we read about the life of Peter Wielunski, a veteran who, while receiving care from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS), took his own life. Another life cut short quite possibly by invisible wounds of war. Read More »

A Case Of The Mumps

Rob Tweed | The EWD Files | October 21, 2012

I’ve been a developer since the late 1970′s and still going strong. [...] In all that time, just two languages have come my way where I’ve thought: “yes, this is cool; this is fun; this makes me really productive”.  One you’ll know: Javascript.  The other you’ll have either not heard of [....]: it’s known as the Mumps language. Read More »

A Layer Above It All: Healtheway’s Value Prop

John Moore | Chilmark Research | October 25, 2012

Now that NwHIN has been spun-out into the public-private entity Healtheway one has to wonder exactly what value they can deliver to market that will sustain them as they attempt to ween themselves from the federal spigot. Healtheway has no lack of challenges ahead but they intend to target one area that presents an interesting opportunity. Question is: Are they too early to market? Read More »

A Look Back At Roger Baker’s Work At The Veterans Affairs Department

Jimmy Daly | FedTech | April 3, 2013

The government community will miss Baker’s leadership and charisma. Read More »

A paperless NHS? Swapping best practice and ideas with the US Veteran Health Administration to make it happen

Press Release | 2020health, 3Millionlives | March 13, 2013

If the NHS is serious about going digital it should continue to build on an existing partnership with the VHA and continue to revolutionise healthcare, says the report "Making connections - A transatlantic exchange to support the adoption of digital health between the US VHA and England’s NHS" developed jointly by the VHA, 3Millionlives and published by 2020health. Read More »

A Single-Payer System Would Reduce U.S. Health Care Costs

Ed Weisbart | Virtual Mentor | November 1, 2012

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is introducing insurance reforms that will improve the lives of millions of Americans, but we need to go much further to solve the crisis in health care. Read More »

Accenture Scoops Up HIT Contractor To DoD And VA

Diana Manos | Government Health IT | August 2, 2013

Accenture Federal Services (AFS) announced Wednesday that it will acquire ASM Research, Inc., a provider of information technology and services to U.S. defense and federal health clients. Read More »

ADA: VA's MOVE Helps Block Diabetes

Kristina Fiore | MedPage Today | June 24, 2013

CHICAGO -- A weight-loss program that can be implemented over a large healthcare system may help prevent development of type 2 diabetes, researchers reported here. Read More »