Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

See the following -

The Power Of The Blue Button

Peter Levin and Lygeia Ricciardi | Health IT Buzz | October 1, 2012

In August 2010, just 25 months ago,  President Obama announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was going to make Veterans’ personal health records available to them online with something called the “Blue Button.” Read More »

The Promise of a Little Blue Button

John Moore | Chilmark Research | September 11, 2012

...despite some shortcomings, the event was focused around what may be the government’s (VA & CMS) finest contributions to promoting patient engagement – the Blue Button.
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The Question Your Healthcare Provider Will Ask At Your Next Visit

Press Release | American Academy of Nursing (AAN) | September 12, 2013

56% of community providers don’t routinely ask their patients about being a current or former member of the armed forces or a family member. The American Academy of Nursing starts a new campaign, “Have you ever served in the military?,” encourages healthcare providers to ask about their patients’ military background to raise the quality of health assessments and appropriate diagnosis and treatment of the military members. Read More »

The Sorry State Of Veterans' Health Care

Malou Innocent | US News | April 4, 2013

Here is a sad lesson in government waste. Since 2008, the Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) have spent over $1 billion to create an integrated electronic health record (iEHR). Four years and $1 billion later, not a single line of code has been implemented. Read More »

The Tragedy Of Roger Baker

David Perera | FierceGovernmentIT | February 19, 2013

Roger Baker's decision to leave the Veterans Affairs Department is, on reflection, a tragedy. Read More »

The VA report: Failing Our Vets

Staff Writer | Tribune-Review | April 24, 2013

It's utterly astounding to think that officials of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Pittsburgh had such total disregard for the health and welfare of veterans in its care. But it did. And not only must heads roll, criminal charges must be considered. Read More »

The VA’s Generational Problem

Juliette Kayyem | The Boston Globe | May 27, 2013

This week, we honor those who have died in America’s wars. And those who survive. [...] Nonetheless, support for veterans has taken a decidedly political turn lately as calls mount for the secretary of veterans affairs, Eric Shinseki, to resign. Read More »

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 »

Three Developers Split $3M In Prize Money For VistA Scheduling Software

Joseph Conn | ModernHealthcare.com | October 4, 2013

Three winners will split more than $3 million in prize money offered by the Veterans Affairs Department to upgrade the scheduling software module of its VistA electronic health-record system. Read More »

Three Innovative Tools You Didn’t Think The U.S. Government Could Build

John Paul Titlow | Fast Company | November 11, 2015

After the botched launch of Healthcare.gov in October 2013, it felt like the bugs, headaches, and negative headlines would never stop piling up. But the White House learned its lesson and from the ashes of that blunder, the Obama administration has begun rewiring how government approaches tech. It’s been just over a year since the launch of the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) and the government digital services agency 18F, but the lessons—and poached talent—from Silicon Valley is already infiltrating the federal government and yielding results...

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Time To Pay The Price Of War

Leila Levinson | Huffington Post | September 21, 2012

Help has been slow to come for members of our military and our veterans in crisis. Nearly 1 million veterans from various wars await a ruling from the Veterans Administration on their claims for disability. The VA estimates that in the next several months, another 1.2 million claims will come in as more troops return and more veterans recognize that they suffer from PTSD...
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To Fix Medicare, Let Seniors Join the VA

Richard Hanson | Grand Forks Herald | March 3, 2012

By nearly all measures, the VA outperforms Medicare. It makes sense, then, to make room in the VA for civilians aged 65 or older.

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Tony Shannon: The Practicalities Of Implementing VistA

Tony Shannon | Nuffield Trust | July 5, 2012

In this slideshow, Dr Tony Shannon, Consultant in Emergency Medicine and Chief Clinical Information Officer, Leeds Teaching Hospitals, outlines the practical considerations for implementing VistA in the NHS, in the context of people, processes and technology. Read More »

Top 4 Care-Transition Benefits Of DoD, VA Joint iEHR

Benjamin Harris | Government Health IT | November 13, 2012

Caring for the nation's service members has never been easy. Providing world-class medical attention for the men and women of the Armed Forces from the front lines to the hospitals and clinics of the Veterans Administration (VA) is a daunting task that entails massive logistical and data hurdles. Read More »

Top VA Tech Official Pushes Agile Development

Andy Medici | Federal Times | November 13, 2013

The Veterans Affairs Department should engage in more agile development in order to make more responsive and innovative programs, according to the agency’s top technology official. Read More »