Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

See the following -

Inside the Drive to Collect DNA from 1M Veterans and Revolutionize Medicine

Jeffrey Delviscio, Alex Hogan, Hyacinth Empinado and Alissa Ambrose | Fox News | September 15, 2016

The Department of Veterans Affairs is gathering blood from 1 million veterans and sequencing their DNA. At the same time, computer scientists are creating a database that combines those genetic sequences with electronic medical records and other information about veterans’ health. The ultimate goal of the project, known as the Million Veteran Program, is to uncover clues about disorders ranging from diabetes to post-traumatic stress disorder...

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Integrated Health Record Effort Adds To VA's Troubles

Amber Corrin | FCW | May 2, 2013

The Integrated Electronic Health Record (iEHR) program is not the Department of Veterans Affairs' only lightning rod, but it is a major one. Officially in the works since 2011, the records-sharing program took root after 15 years of discussion and cooperation between the two agencies to share military members' health data. Read More »

Integrated Health Record Tests DoD's Agile Acquisition Aspirations

Jared Serbu | FederalNewsRadio.com | August 31, 2012

A year later, Dr. Barclay Butler was appointed to direct the Interagency Program Office (IPO) that will coordinate DoD and VA's activities. And he's come to the conclusion that development of the Integrated Electronic Health Record (iEHR) just isn't compatible with the traditional DoD acquisition system.
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Internal watchdog blasts DoD's health IT efforts

Jared Serbu | Federal News Radio | April 22, 2013

The Defense Department's current approach to achieving health record interoperability with the Veterans Affairs Department is "manifestly inconsistent" with White House directives to adopt and use open data standards, according to a memo from the Pentagon's top systems evaluator. Read More »

IntraCare Behavioral Health Selects OpenVista® Healthcare IT Solution

Press Release | Medsphere, IntraCare Behavioral Health | March 6, 2013

Medsphere Systems Corporation...today announced that Houston’s IntraCare Behavioral Health will implement the company’s OpenVista® electronic health record (EHR). IntraCare, a community-based provider of comprehensive behavioral health services for children, adolescents and adults, identified OpenVista's flexibility and open architecture, as well as Medsphere’s rapid implementation process and clinical transformation services, as the most effective path to improved patient care. Read More »

Introduce Bipartisan Bill To Extend Emergency Care Coverage For Veterans

Press Release | PoliticalNews.me | October 31, 2013

U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono, Jerry Moran (R-KS), Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Mark Begich (D-AK), members of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, announced new legislation this week to help extend emergency care coverage for veterans. Read More »

Investing in people keeps the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on mission.

Tony Bingham and Pat Galagan | ASTD | November 8, 2012

As deputy secretary of VA since 2009, W. Scott Gould has shown himself to be a true champion of human capital. He has fought for and won training budgets that support more than 60 learning and development initiatives to help VA employees deliver on their mission of service—and show measurable results. We talked with Gould at VA headquarters in Washington, D.C. Read More »

IOM: No More DoD-VA Integrated Medical Centers Until iEHR

David Perera | FierceGovernmentIT | October 16, 2012

Additional integrated health centers along the lines of the James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, Ill., shouldn't be undertaken by the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs until they stand up an interoperable electronic health records system, says the Institute of Medicine. Read More »

iPad Apps Provide Mobile Tools For Military Veterans' Caregivers

Brian T. Horowitz | eWEEK | September 6, 2013

The Department of Veterans Affairs is working on a yearlong pilot to see how iPads help more than 1,000 family caregivers tend to injured post-9/11 veterans. The department has distributed 900 iPads to caregivers, and it's developing mobile apps to help veterans manage their care. Read More »

IPO Awards $11M iEHR Contract, DoD Demos EHRs

Moly Bernhart Walker | FierceGovernmentIT | October 21, 2013

The Veterans Affairs and Defense Departments' interagency program office awarded a 12-month, $11 million contract Oct. 9 to Systems Made Simple--the same company that originally won the iEHR contract in 2012. Read More »

Is iEHR Really Dead?

Tom Sullivan | Government Health IT | February 11, 2013

Is the highly-anticipated joint iEHR that the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs have been working on ready for a burial? Or not? Read More »

Is the Administration Leaving a Promising Health Reform in the Cold?

Sen. Ron Wyden | Huffington Post | December 12, 2011

How do these programs realize such savings? By doing a better job of caring for patients with multiple, chronic and often debilitating diseases. These are patients who regularly see multiple doctors and are in and out of emergency rooms and assisted living facilities. Instead of leaving these patients to fend for themselves, these programs send health care providers to their homes to check vital signs, organize pill bottles and coordinate the patient's overall care.

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Issa Proposes Legislation To Reboot Federal IT

Joseph Marks | Nextgov | September 20, 2012

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is floating proposed legislation that would drastically reform the way federal technology is purchased, including by granting agency chief information officers authority over their information technology budgets. Read More »

IT Projects May Not Be Getting Enough Oversight

Joseph Marks | Nextgov | November 16, 2012

The White House should do a better job of tracking whether agencies’ major technology projects are at risk of going off the rails and agencies should perform more oversight on their operations and maintenance spending, according to two recent watchdog reports. Read More »

It’s The System, Stupid: Reversing The Law Of Unintended Consequences

Edmund Billings | Medsphere | February 4, 2013

We should have seen it coming, really. It was entirely predictable, and the most recent RAND report proves it. We incentivized comprehensive IT adoption, making it easier to bill for every procedure, examination, aspirin, tongue depressor, kind word and gentle (or not) touch without first flipping the American healthcare paradigm on its head... Read More »