Veterans Health Administration (VHA)

See the following -

Is The 1.5+ Trillion Dollar HITECH Act a Failure?

Hopefully, the public statements made by President Obama and Vice President Biden will lead to a public debate over the monumental problems that the HITECH Act and proprietary EHR vendors have caused the American people. While the press continues to report the figure of $35 billion as the cost of implementing EHRs, that figure does not tell the entire story. Perhaps the next step is to provide accountability and transparency. That would start with firm numbers regarding the real costs of EHR implementations forced on an unprepared healthcare system by the HITECH Act.

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J P Systems, Inc.

J P Systems, Inc. provides Healthcare IT solutions to the Federal Government. We provide professional services for requirements analysis, HL7 standards development, data architecture, UML data modeling, IT policy consulting, IT strategy consulting, HIT stakeholder engagement and business analysis. We facilitate enterprise to enterprise data exchanges and plan for interoperability through data modeling and standardized clinical terminologies.

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Joint Study between VA and UL shows UL Cybersecurity Standard provides robust risk management for connected medical devices

Press Release | UL | October 16, 2019

The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) and UL, a global safety science organization, today announced the completion of a two-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) Program for medical device cybersecurity. As medical devices are susceptible to cybersecurity attacks, creating both patient safety risks and disclosure risks for protected health information, the VA and UL sought to address an existing gap in the marketplace for cybersecurity standards and practical certification approaches for connected medical devices. With the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) revolutionizing patient care, increasing efficiency and improving healthcare quality, the VA aimed to find solutions for securing large-scale IoMT device deployments supporting mission-critical care delivery for roughly nine million patients under its care. Read More »

Key Lawmaker Wants To Ban VA Bonuses For Five Years

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | May 8, 2013

The chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee proposed legislation that would ban all bonuses for senior executives in the Veterans Affairs Department for the next five years. The move by Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., is in response to VA’s disability claims backlog and patient deaths in VA hospitals. Read More »

Lack Of Funding, Clout Didn't Deter Kolodner From Tackling ONC's Top Spot

Joseph Conn | Modern Healthcare | April 10, 2014

Dr. Robert Kolodner had his eyes wide open when he took the top spot at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at HHS.  He knew that his predecessor, Dr. David Brailer, had asked in vain for billions of dollars to help subsidize the cost of EHRS to hospitals and physicians, federal money he thought ONC needed.

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LiveData Signs Strategic Agreement with DSS, Inc.

Press Release | BusinessWire | September 11, 2012

LiveData today announced a sales and support agreement with Document Storage Systems, Inc. (DSS, Inc.) to sell, implement, and support OR-Dashboard throughout the Veterans Health Administration health care system. DSS, Inc. Read More »

Lockheed subsidiary, Epic win $624M VA patient scheduling contract

Joseph Conn | Modern Healthcare | August 26, 2015

The Veterans Affairs Department has awarded a $624 million contract to Systems Made Simple, Syracuse, N.Y., a subsidiary of giant defense and national security contractor Lockheed Martin, Bethesda, Md., to overhaul its medical appointment scheduling system at its Veterans Health Administration healthcare system. Epic Systems Corp., Verona, Wis., will supply the software to the VA, the company confirmed.

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Media Advisory: LiveData Announces Participation In Annual Conference Of Association Of VA Surgeons

Press Release | LiveData, Inc., KARL STORZ Endoscopy-America, Inc., Document Storage Systems, Inc. | April 6, 2014

LiveData, Inc. today announced the details of its participation in the 38th annual conference of the Association of VA Surgeons, April 6-8 in New Haven, Connecticut. The company will exhibit with VistA integration partner Document Storage Systems, Inc. (DSS). Miami VA Healthcare System, a LiveData, DSS, and KARL STORZ Endoscopy-America customer, will make a presentation during the Oral Sessions on April 7.

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Medical Health Records on iPhone Now Available to US Veterans

Press Release | Apple | November 6, 2019

Health Records on iPhone brings together veterans' hospitals, clinics and existing information on the Health app to make it easy for them to see their medical data across multiple providers.Apple and the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced that veterans across the nation and surrounding territories now have access to the Health Records feature in the Health app on iPhone. The VA gradually launched Health Records to select patients this summer, and now veterans who are iOS users and receive their care through the Veterans Health Administration can see a fuller, more comprehensive picture of their health that includes information from multiple providers. "Helping veterans gain a better understanding of their health is our chance to show our gratitude for their service," said Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer. "By working with the VA to offer Health Records on iPhone, we hope to help those who served have greater peace of mind that their health care is in good hands." Read More »

Medsphere Joins ProSphere in VA VistA Enhancement Project

Press Release | Medsphere | July 28, 2015

Medsphere Systems Corporation...today announced that the company is partnering with ProSphere Tek to develop File Manager (FileMan) version 23. FileMan, VA VistA’s core data management utility, enables the operation of VistA applications and modules, all working with integrated data. Medsphere will focus specifically on enhancing FileMan to develop VistA’s fundamental data architecture and internal data management. “We appreciate the trust both ProSphere and VA have shown in Medsphere’s VistA experience and expertise, especially with regard to FileMan,” said Medsphere President and CEO Irv Lichtenwald.

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Military Sexual Assault Survivors Face Broken VA Treatment System

Meredith Clark | MSNBC | July 19, 2013

Former Navy Petty Officer Third Class Brian Lewis had a clear answer when asked what he thought about the current Veterans’ Health Administration system for treating survivors of military sexual trauma: “I cannot in good conscience recommend VA to a survivor of military sexual assault at this time,” he told the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. Read More »

Naturopathic Physicians and the Veterans Administration

AMVETS, one of the country's largest veterans service organizations, has teamed up with the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP) to promote natural, non-pharmacological approaches to treating veterans suffering from chronic pain. In a Dear Colleague letter in the U.S. House of Representatives, lawmakers have called on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to take steps to employ licensed naturopathic physicians, who are trained in natural, non-invasive methods of healing. Congressman Mark Pocan (D-WI), concerned about the dangers of overmedicating veterans, especially with prescribed opioid drugs, has penned a letter that many colleagues have signed including Representatives Julia Brownley (D-CA), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), and Walter Jones (R-NC) as the letter's initial signators.

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Nerve Interface For Direct Sensory Feedback

Staff Writer | Institute for Emerging Ethics & Technologies | June 27, 2013

This material is based upon the pioneering work supported (or supported in part) by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development, Rehabilitation Research and Development Service at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Read More »

New Big Kid On The Block: VA Joins OpenNotes As A Partner. Tipping Point?

Susan S. Woods | Shared Health Data | June 5, 2013

Today the MyOpenNotes website announced the Veterans Health Administration joining the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative as a partner. Providers partners [...] are fully committed to give patients online access to clinical notes. Read More »

New V.A. Secretary Says Hiring Spree Is Needed To Meet Patient Demand

Richard A. Oppel | The New York Times | September 8, 2014

The new secretary of Veterans Affairs said Monday that the department needed to hire “tens of thousands of new doctors, new nurses, new clinicians” — emphasizing the significance of a shortage of employees who are directly involved in treating patients, a factor many experts said was a main driver in the waiting-list scandal that rocked the agency this year...

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