Valerie Melvin
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Congress & GAO Take Aim At DOD-VA Health Records Program
When the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments last month announced a change of course in a long-awaited joint health records program, it sparked concerns at the Government Accountability Office. Now, the program faces further challenges from Capitol Hill. Read More »
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Don’t Expect Defense And VA Health Records To Share Data Anytime Soon
Veterans Affairs Department Chief Information Officer Roger Baker told reporters in a press call on Thursday that officials halted the effort to develop an integrated electronic health record after cost estimates doubled to about $12 billion. He said officials now expect to acquire 50 joint and shared applications, which he estimated will cost between $4 billion and $6 billion. Read More »
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GAO: Poor Project Planning, Management Doomed VA-DoD iEHR
Historically, efforts to make the EHR systems used by the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense (VA, DoD) have failed as a result of inadequate project planning and poor management... Read More »
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House Blasts 'U-Turn' On iEHR Project
House Veterans' Affairs Committee members had some harsh words for VA and Department of Defense officials at a hearing on Wednesday for altering their approach to forming an integrated electronic health record, calling the move "a step backward." Read More »
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House: $1B Wasted On Vets’ Medical E-Records
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 »
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Lawmakers Dispute DoD, VA’s Claims of Health Record Interoperability
Three months ago, the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs certified to Congress that their electronic health records could finally exchange data in a meaningful way. But lawmakers aren’t satisfied with that assertion and are looking for more clarity on what “interoperability” actually means. With some fanfare, the two departments both attested that they’d met a 2014 congressional mandate to make all of their respective health data interoperable with one another’s IT systems...
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Lawmakers Pessimistic On VA-DoD E-Records Plan
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 »
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On Capitol Hill, Concerns Remain About DOD-VA Interoperability
Senate appropriators grilled top Veterans Affairs officials about whether the military and VA electronic health records systems are cooperating. VA CIO LaVerne Council, VistA Evolution Program Executive David Waltman and Veterans Health Administration Deputy Chief Medical Information Officer For Strategy and Design Jonathan Nebeker testified at a July 13 hearing before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies. DOD's director of the DoD/VA Interagency Program Office, Lauren Thompson, and Government Accountability Office Director for Information Management and Technology Resources Issues Valerie Melvin were also at the witness table...
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Overdue Outbreak Detection System Leaves Patchwork Defense
The U.S. should have had a nationwide network to monitor for the next viral outbreak or biological threat a decade ago. It still doesn't. Instead, public health leaders make do with a patchwork system while waiting for the Department of Health and Human Services races to get its integrated network in service by a new 2023 congressional deadline. Until that nationwide monitoring system is in place, the U.S. runs the risk that a biological threat like a disease outbreak will take hold before it's noticed. "The risk is that we don't have the level of surveillance that we need. The risk is that there are things basically flying under the radar," said Helen Boucher, an infectious diseases clinician at Tufts Medical Center in Boston and director of the university's Center for Integrated Management of Antimicrobial Resistance.
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VA And DoD’s Reversal On Electronic Health Records Criticized
The decision this month by the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to scrap plans to create a single electronic health record came under renewed attack Wednesday on Capitol Hill as the Government Accountability Office questioned the departments’ assertion that the action will enable them to deliver improved health care more quickly and for less money. Read More »
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VA, DoD EHR Project: Security Game Plan
Although the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense are taking a new approach to building their long-awaited integrated electronic health record system, many key components of the data security strategy for the project will remain the same, says Roger Baker, the VA's outgoing CIO. Read More »
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