Sloan Gibson

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VA to Kick Off Hunt For New Patient Scheduling System Next Month

Jack Moore | Nextgov | August 26, 2014

The Department of Veterans Affairs is seeking a “cutting-edge” commercial, off-the-shelf scheduling system to replace the clunky legacy module that helped mire the agency in controversy over long wait times faced by veterans seeking care. By the end of September, VA plans to issue a solicitation for a new system to manage the scheduling of veterans’ medical appointments. Read More »

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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Gibson: VA Pursuing Schedule Fix On Multiple Tracks

Adam Mazmanian | FCW | July 16, 2014

There are 11 known defects in the scheduling system,  part of the VistA health record system, and those "are being patched as we speak," Gibson told members of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on July 16. In addition, the VA is developing four new interfaces to make it easier for schedulers to access the system, and to give veterans the ability to access their own appointments data through the VA...

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Is Robert A. McDonald Fit to be VA Secretary?

President Obama's nominee to head the [VA] is now Robert A McDonald, former CEO of Procter and Gamble...Yet aside from a single article on the Ring of Fire web site, all news coverage and discussion so far has ignored Mr McDonald's previous experience in health care leadership, but also that his relevant track record ought to raise questions about his fitness for the VA position.

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No Link Found for Deaths and Veterans’ Care Delays

Richard A. Oppel, Jr. | New York Times | August 25, 2014

An investigation by the watchdog office for the Department of Veterans Affairs has been unable to substantiate allegations that 40 veterans may have died because of delays in care at the veterans medical center in Phoenix, according to a letter from the new secretary of Veterans Affairs. Read More »

No New VA Patient Scheduling System Until 2016

Bob Brewin | Nextgov.com | July 24, 2014

The Department of Veterans Affairs will not field a new patient scheduling system to replace its existing system until 2016, Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson told a House VA committee hearing today...

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No New VA Patient Scheduling System Until 2020 (Updated)

Bob Brewin | Nextgov.com | September 26, 2014

...The Department of Veterans Affairs will not install a new patient scheduling system to all of its 153 hospitals and 50,000 users until 2020, according to contract documents released last week...

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OMB Turns To The People-Solution To Fix Troubled IT Programs

Jason Miller | Federal News Radio | September 15, 2014

...Steve VanRoekel, the federal chief information officer, detailed two specific initiatives under the agenda's smarter IT delivery area to address the technical expertise of federal employees. One is around flexible hiring, and a second is trying another employee exchange program...

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Organizations Link VA Problems To Staff Shortages

Wesley Brown | The Augusta Chronicle | July 12, 2014

Acting Vete­rans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gib­son said last week that the quality of care at the Charlie Nor­­­wood VA Medical Center is in jeopardy because of a shortage of physicians and nurses, and national health groups say they know why the Au­gusta hospital is struggling to fill more than 100 vacant positions...

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VA Begins Process To Remove Official At Center Of FedBid Scandal

Dan Verton | FedScoop | October 7, 2014

Less than a week after the Energy Department withdrew an offer of employment to Susan Taylor, the Veterans Health Administration’s deputy chief procurement officer at the center of a procurement scandal involving FedBid, the VA announced Monday it has started the formal process of removing Taylor from her position at the agency...

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VA Compromise Bill Would Bolster Telemedicine, Scheduling Software

Staff Writer | Government Health IT | July 30, 2014

The proposed $17 billion legislation that would overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs gives weight to two significant information technology initiatives long sought by its proponents.  The VA became the center of much attention this week as the bill, approved by House and Senate negotiators late Monday, was followed Tuesday by the Senate confirmation of Procter & Gamble CEO Robert McDonald as the new VA secretary...

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VA Investigation: No Proof That Falsified Data Led to Vets' Deaths

Staff | iHealthBeat | August 26, 2014

Claims that 40 veterans might have died because of delayed care and manipulated waiting lists at a Department of Veterans Affairs health center in Phoenix, Ariz., are unsubstantiated, according to an internal investigation, the New York Times reports. Read More »

VA Schedulers Failed To Fully Use Wait List Software Created in 2002

Bob Brewin | Nextgov.com | June 10, 2014

More than 70 percent of 3,772 patient-scheduling staffers at 731 medical facilities in the Veterans Health Administration did not fully use scheduling software originally developed in 2002, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs report highlighting lengthy wait times for veterans seeking health care appointments...

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VA Secretary McDonald Outlines Steps For VA Transformation at Institute of Medicine Annual Meeting

Press Release | US Department of Veterans Affairs | October 20, 2014

As the Nation’s foremost advisory body in medicine and healthcare, you know that the Department of Veterans Affairs is in the midst of overcoming problems involving access to healthcare. We own them, and we’re fixing them. But I know you also know that VA has a legacy of excellence, innovation, cutting-edge research, and achievements in healthcare delivery that is as broad and historically significant as it is profound—and often unrecognized. There’s something else. Right now, VA has before it perhaps its greatest opportunity to enhance care for Veterans in its history. Read More »

VA Still Mulling Timeline For New Scheduling System

Bob Brewin | Nextgov.com | July 22, 2014

Last month, acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson said development of a new scheduling system would help move veterans out of the waiting-list limbo that delayed vets’ medical care across the country and contributed to the resignation of Eric Shinseki as VA Secretary...

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