Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS)

See the following -

There’s A Word For VA’s Paperless Claims System

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | April 10, 2013

The Veterans Affairs Department’s paperless claims processing system -- the Veterans Benefits Management System, known by its acronym VBMS -- should be renamed VBMess, an unidentified VA claims employee told the VAWatchdog blog today after a series of outages this week. Read More »

Two Bills Aim To Expedite Benefits For Veterans

Susan D. Hall | FierceEMR | November 12, 2013

Citing frustration that veterans in New York wait on average 400 days for the start of benefits, Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) is pushing two bills to speed things up. Read More »

VA CIO Roger Baker Resigns - UPDATED

David Perera | FierceGovernmentIT | February 19, 2013

Baker's resignation notice comes shortly after the secretaries of the DoD and the VA announced the end of iEHR development. An insider who spoke on condition of anonymity said Baker's departure is voluntary and not directly tied to the iEHR decision, although the rolling back of a project identified closely with him was a factor. "He's exhausted," the insider said.

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VA Downplays Claims Computers Being Taken Offline

Leo Shane III | Stars and Stripes | April 9, 2013

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ new claims processing system was taken offline for repairs this week, raising more questions about the department’s long-term plans to break the claims backlog. Read More »

VA Halts All Software Development

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | October 8, 2013

The Veterans Affairs Department halted all software development Tuesday, including work on its $491 million paperless Veterans Benefits Management System. The news came a day after the department furloughed 2,754 information technology employees due to the lapse in appropriations. Read More »

VA Has Converted Over 30 Percent Of Disability Claims Into Digital Files

Press Release | Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) | July 18, 2013

165 Million Pages Have Been Scanned and Uploaded to Help Transform Paper-Based Claims Process to Digital Environment Read More »

VA Refines Scheduling Contract Timing, Sees Progress On Broad Tech Front

Dan Verton | FedScoop | September 30, 2014

Stephen Warren, the chief information officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs, said Tuesday a final contract award for a new commercial scheduling system will likely happen in January and not by the end of 2014 as originally planned because of “an extensive amount of industry feedback” received on the system’s performance work statement...

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VA Seeks A 10 Percent IT Funding Boost In 2014

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | April 11, 2013

The Veterans Affairs Department requested $3.7 billion for its 2014 information technology budget -- a 10 percent jump over 2013 spending. W. Todd Grams, the department’s chief financial officer, told a press briefing Wednesday that IT is central to VA’s ability to deliver benefits. Read More »

VA Seeks To Quadruple Funding For Paperless Claims System

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | April 8, 2013

The Veterans Affairs Department will request a discretionary budget of $63.5 billion in 2014, a four percent increase over the 2013 funding levels President Obama approved last month and $500 million below what the department originally sought  for 2013, the White House said in a preliminary release of the VA budget. Read More »

VA testing cash prizes to improve its health record system

Jared Serbu | Federal News Radio | February 1, 2013

The Department of Veterans Affairs is trying out a new concept for IT acquisition. Rather than paying vendors to build systems according to rigorous government specifications that might, one day, meet the agency's mission, it's offering cash prizes to any vendor who can prove their product successfully integrates with its electronic health records system. Read More »

VA, National Archives Team Up to Help Dig Out of Claims Backlog

Jared Serbu | Federal News Radio | April 26, 2012

The Department of Veterans Affairs has teamed up with the National Archives and Records Administration as it tries to evolve to a paperless disability claims process, a process that VA believes is the only way it can finally sort through its huge backlog of claims. VA and NARA have signed a deal to use the archives agency's high-speed, high-quality scanners to digitize the huge quantity of Read More »

VA’s CIO Stephen Warren on Serving Veterans

Dan Verton | FedScoop | August 18, 2014

In his first interview since a scandal involving secret waiting lists forced a change of leadership at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Stephen Warren, VA’s chief information officer, offers a candid assessment of the agency’s past and future technology plans. Read More »

VA’s Disability Claims Backlog Tops 900,000

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | December 28, 2012

The Veterans Affairs Department’s disability claims backlog edged above the 900,000 mark this week, with 608,365 -- 67.6 percent -- stuck in the system more than 125 days. Read More »

VA’s Paperless Claims System Slows To A Crawl

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | January 4, 2012

The Veterans Affairs Department’s $491 million disability claims processing system, which is used in 18 out of 57 regional offices, slowed to a crawl last month due to sluggish response times for claims examiners trying to access veterans’ files stored on remote servers, Nextgov has learned. Read More »

Veterans Affairs, Defense Depts. Spend Billions In Effort To Coordinate Records

Hannah Winston | The Center for Public Integrity | August 27, 2013

After two years and more than $1 billion spent, integrated health records system canceled Read More »