Veterans Health Administration (VHA)

See the following -

VistA, AHLTA, CHCS: An Evolving Alternative Roadmap to the Future

The obstacles to continue moving U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in a common direction with regard to their clinical IT systems are fairly well-known. Having made that statement, it may therefore seem strange that this blog suggests that a conceptually simple technical approach may have the potential to untie the Gordian knot that has defeated many previous efforts. The proposed approach is not some yet-to-be-developed technology that exists only on Powerpoint slides. In fact, the proposed approach is based on technology that has already been validated by the-powers-that-be – at taxpayer expense – and the official conclusion in the official report on file at the DoD(1) states unambiguously and explicitly that the technology works as claimed is scalable, and can handle very large M/Caché systems.

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Wall Street Journal: "ObamaCare’s Electronic-Records Debacle"

This Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Op-Ed could have been entitled "President Sucker: Led Down the Garden Path by The Healthcare IT Industry." It is entitled "ObamaCare’s Electronic-Records Debacle", as below.  First, though: On Feb. 18, 2009 the WSJ published the following Letter to the Editor authored by me...I have a different view on who is deceiving whom. In fact, it is the government that has been deceived by the HIT industry and its pundits. Stated directly, the administration is deluded about the true difficulty of making large-scale health IT work. The beneficiaries will largely be the IT industry and IT management consultants.

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Washington Watch: Blue Button Push

Diana Manos | HealthcareITNews | September 13, 2012

One of the most interesting and innovative elements of the advancement of health information technology that I've encountered, is Blue Button, a web tool patients can use to view and download their personal health information. Read More »

WELL Health Technologies Becomes World’s First Billion-dollar Open Source EMR Company

Canadian start-up company WELL Health Technologies (WELL) just crossed the threshold a month ago to become the world’s first billion-dollar open source electronic medical records (EMR) company. WELL, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has accomplished this milestone less than three years after its founding. WELL’s market cap is currently hovering between $1.2 and $1.3 billion. The company has developed a disruptive digital health platform model with an open source EMR core, and a firm focus on improving clinical outcomes by using the technology to assist physicians and patients focus on health and wellness. Its goal is to shift the industry from a highly fragmented and expensive sick-care system to a health care system.

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What Kind Of Problem Is The ACA Rollout For Liberalism?

Mike Konczal | Next New Deal | October 23, 2013

“This massive IT launch sure came in on time, under budget, and without headaches” is a statement that nobody has ever said. But even controlling for that, Healthcare.gov looks to be having a disastrous launch. Read More »

What's wrong with IT at Veterans Affairs?

Frank Konkel | FCW | May 1, 2013

Projects are stalled, and top leaders have departed. Investigations and agency sources paint a bleak picture inside VA's IT office. Read More »

While Unions Whine About Pensions and Change, the USA Shows How Modern Healthcare Should Be Done [UK]

Julie Manning | Daily Mail | January 19, 2012

The expert health and technology think tank 2020health has analysed the experience of the VHA and today publishes its report on Telehealth: What can the NHS learn from experience at the US Veterans Health Administration? to coincide with this government's launch in Parliament at lunchtime of it's own '3 million lives' Telehealth strategy.

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Why Computerized Medical Records Are Bad for Both You and Your Doctor

Samuel Shem | Newsweek | November 1, 2019

We should not click for cash, but for care. We can use the data to benefit the patient-and the medical professionals...The EMR could have been a lifesaver. It still can be. If we get rid of on-screen, for-profit billing, and use electronic screens exclusively for care, we solve a lot of problems. We could create a true national health care system, modeled after our existing two national systems-Medicare/Medicaid and the VA. As in all other national systems, each procedure would cost about the same all over the country. On longitudinal charts showing the health of Americans as they age, a sharp rise in good health suddenly increases at age 65, when Medicare kicks in. Read More »

Winner Of The 2012 Government Big Data Solutions Award

Bob Gourley | SmartData Collective | November 25, 2012

The Government Big Data Solutions Award was established to highlight innovative solutions and facilitate the exchange of best practices, lessons learned and creative ideas for addressing Big Data challenges. The Top Five Nominees of 2012 were chosen for criteria that included: Read More »

Workshop Lays Out Strategy for Common VistA Code Base

Who Says a Common VistA Code Base is Unattainable? Certainly not the Open Source Electronic Health Record Alliance (OSEHRA), nor 27 principal developers of VistA who participated in the first OSEHRA Code Alignment Workshop held in Oakland, California, last week. An unprecedented effort, the workshop brought together government and private organizations dedicated to open source solutions for the challenges facing healthcare. Its primary objective was to facilitate rapid innovation for the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA), the electronic health record (EHR) software used by Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities as well as hundreds of medical centers in the U.S. and abroad, totaling approximately 2,500 facilities worldwide. Read More »

Mike O'Neill and Seong K. Mun on OSEHRA - The VistA Open Source Custodial Agent

Event Details
Type: 
Seminar/Webinar
Date: 
March 1, 2012 - 4:00pm - 5:00pm

Those interested in finding out more about OSEHRA, the VistA Custodial Agent organization, will have a golden opportunity on March 1. Mike O'Neill - Senior Advisor, Veterans Affairs Innovation Initiative (VAi2) and OSEHRA Board Member and Dr. Seong K. Mun, founding President of CEO of OSEHRA will be giving a webinar presentation and detailed discussion on OSEHRA's background, mission and current status.

OSEHRA’s mission is to facilitate, through the use of the best practices in open source software development, the improvement and maintenance of EHR information systems.  These systems will be freely available for all medical beneficiaries. OSEHRA has been modeled after successful open source collaborative efforts and will welcome the contributions from all kinds of developers...

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OSEHRA 2012 Open Source Summit

Event Details
Type: 
Conference
Date: 
October 17, 2012 - 8:00am - October 18, 2012 - 6:00pm
Location: 
Gaylord National Washington, DC
United States

The Open Source Electronic Health Records Agent (OSEHRA) will be hosting its First Annual Open Source EHR Summit & Workshop October 17 and 18, 2012, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. OSEHRA is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating an open source ecosystem around the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) world-class EHR, VistA. Since its creation a year ago by the VA, the organization has grown rapidly and now has more than 1,000 members. Members include a large number of private companies that are engaged in implementing VistA private sector hospitals and clinics, as well as in the large number of foreign countries that are adopting VistA. These solution providers are also developing a whole range of  enhancements to the VistA core.

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28th VistA Community Meeting

Event Details
Type: 
Conference
Date: 
January 17, 2014 - 8:00am - January 19, 2014 - 5:00pm
Location: 
UC Davis School of Medicine Sacramento, CA 95817
United States

Former VA CIO Roger Baker and Oroville Hospital CEO Robert Wentz will be addressing the 28th Vista Community Meeting (VCM) in Sacramento, CA in what promises to be one most important conferences of the VistA community to date. The conference, which takes place January 17-19 at the UC Davis School of Medicine campus in Sacramento, CA will feature a stellar cast of Health IT leaders. In addition to Baker and Wentz, conference speakers include Dr. Seong Ki Mun, Chairman of OSEHRA, Howard Hays, CIO of the Indian Health Service (IHS), Theresa Cullen, Chief Medial Informatics Officer (CMIO) of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Stephen Oxley, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Central Regional Hospital in North Carolina, and Denise LeFevre, CIO of Oroville Hospital.

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OSEHRA 2014 Open Source Summit

Event Details
Type: 
Conference
Date: 
September 3, 2014 (All day) - September 5, 2014 (All day)
Location: 
Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center Bethesda, MD
United States

The OSEHRA Open Source Summit on Global Collaboration in Healthcare IT on September 3 – 5, 2014, at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center outside Washington D.C.  OSEHRA, the Open Source Electronic Health Record Alliance, is an emerging leader in the advancement of open source electronic health record (EHR) software and related health information technology. OSEHRA will bring together the best and brightest from healthcare and various major open source initiatives including the VistA and RPMS EHRs. 

Keynote speakers this year include:

  • Stephen W. Warren-Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
  • Doug Fridsma, M.D., Ph.D.-Chief Science Officer and Director of the Office of Science and Technology in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  • Jim Whitehurst-President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Hat

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Connecting California to Improve Patient Care in 2015

Event Details
Type: 
Conference
Date: 
July 30, 2015 - 4:00pm - July 31, 2015 - 5:00pm
Location: 
HYATT VINEYARD CREEK HOTEL AND SPA Santa Rosa, CA
United States

Connecting California to Improve Patient Care is an annual conference featuring presentations on electronic health records (EHR) and on the use of national technology standards to establish interoperability for electronic patient healthcare data. Conference presenters will explain practical solutions for securely sharing electronic clinical information between computer systems at unaffiliated health care facilities, such as outpatient practices, hospitals, laboratories, imaging centers, long term care, home health, public health, payers, patient engagement portals and mobile apps. Conference attendees will learn about best practices in health informatics. Speakers will discuss the current status of health information technology in California, national software road maps for data standards, interoperability, patient safety, and emerging tools and opportunities for physician and patient engagement. Read More »