VA to Go Live with Online Appointment Scheduling in January

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs expects to be able to roll out new app software nationwide to enable online appointment scheduling beginning this January. Patients initially will be able to set up primary-care appointments via an app that will be available on their computers, phones or tablets, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The agency will look to extend that functionality to optometry, audiology and mental-health appointments.

Kathleen Frisbee, executive director for connected health at the VA’s office of connected care, tells the Union-Tribune that the software will boost transparency in the agency’s health system. It will allow patients to view open appointments and choose which times best suit their needs. “I mean, we are exposing our availability to the world,” Frisbee says.

At various Capitol Hill hearings throughout the year, Department of Veterans Affairs CIO LaVerne Council discussed the agency's scheduling plight, touting the potential of inexpensive options. The cost of development, via a combination of internal efforts and work by Accenture Federal Services (previously Agilex Technologies), was $3.2 million, according to the Union-Tribune...