Veterans Affairs CIO sees another year of no growth in IT spending

In his prepared testimony, Baker said he wanted to create an open source model for VISTA, "bringing back the innovation that made VISTA the best electronic health record system in the country." In August, VA said it was evaluating an open source model that a technology industry advisory groupproposed in May.

Tom Munnecke, who helped develop VISTA as a programmer in 1978 and later was chief scientist at SAIC, endorsed the open source concept in hisprepared testimony. He said VA needed to work with new technology such as smart phones and Web-based systems. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., endorsed the opinion by holding up his iPhone, and pointed out three of the witnesses came to the hearing with their own phones.