Phil Roe

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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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Committee Skeptical Of Extra VA Funding, Citing Ballooning Staff Size

Bob Brewin | Nextgov.com | July 24, 2014

Members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee expressed reluctance today to approve a $17.6 billion Veterans Affairs supplemental funding request for additional clinical staff and expanded facilities, in part, because the size of the Veterans Health Administration’s central office staff jumped more than tenfold from the mid-1990s to 2012...

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Congressman Roe Reintroduces Bill To Create Joint Military EHR System

On Tuesday, Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) reintroduced legislation that calls for the development of an integrated electronic health record system for members of the military and veterans, Politico's "Morning eHealth" reports (Allen et al., "Morning eHealth," Politico, 3/25)...According to WBIR, the bill would establish a temporary panel to create criteria for the EHR system, which would then be created by a U.S.-based vendor. The vendor would receive a lump sum of $50 million to develop the system, as well as $25 million annually over five years to operate the system. Roe said a joint military and veterans EHR system would help to streamline the transfer of medical records between DOD and VA. In addition, Roe said the system could help ease coordination of benefits claims and care.

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House: $1B Wasted On Vets’ Medical E-Records

Mitchell Armentrout | Marine Corps Times | February 28, 2013

The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs have wasted about $1 billion in a failed effort to streamline medical record-keeping, the chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee said in a hearing Wednesday. Read More »

How VA Reform Turned Into a Fight Over Privatization

Russell Burman | The Atlantic | July 17, 2017

In 2014, the Department of Veterans Affairs was mired in a scandal. An inspector general’s report had found “systemic” manipulation by government officials to hide lengthy and growing wait times at its medical centers. Veterans were waiting months for appointments, and dozens may have died because they could not get treated in time. Spurred to action, Congress created a program aimed at temporarily alleviating the strain on the VA: Veterans who lived more than 40 miles from a health-care facility or who had to wait more than 30 days for an appointment could take their benefits outside the system and seek treatment from private doctors...

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Lawmakers Pessimistic On VA-DoD E-Records Plan

Mitchell Armentrout | Marine Corps Times | February 28, 2013

Mike Viterna, president of the National Organization of Veterans’ Advocates, said in an interview that the importance of improving the military health records system can’t be overemphasized. “These inefficiencies delay necessary care and compromise that care,” Viterna said. “People need their records for disability claims. They’re being underserved.”... Read More »