Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

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VA Clinical Scheduling Contest Winners Announced

The VA just announced the three winners of their innovative Medical Appointment Scheduling Contest. The winners are, in first place, Health eTime by MedRed, LLC, in second place, OH Scheduler by Oroville Hospital, and in third place is the HP Open Community Team Submission which was put together by a team of open source developers led by HP. These were judged to be the top three systems out of a total field of 41 entries submitted by June 13th of this year. Read More »

VA Considers Moving Email, Office Software to the Cloud

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | February 22, 2012

The Veterans Affairs Department plans to test email and other office software in a cloud computing environment and to try out potentially lower cost alternatives to Microsoft Office products -- such as Google Apps -- in two pilot projects set to kick off this year. Read More »

VA Contest Seeks VistA Appointment Scheduling Tools

Mary Mosquera | Government Health IT | October 16, 2012

The Veterans Affairs Department has launched a competition to modernize the software that helps veterans schedule medical appointments as VA moves its VistA electronic health record to open source applications. Read More »

VA Contract Could Spur RTLS Tech Adoption

Ken Terry | InformationWeek Healthcare | February 22, 2013

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has contracted with HP Enterprise Services to provide a real-time location system (RTLS) in 152 medical centers and seven outpatient pharmacy facilities to help identify, locate and monitor assets and supplies within and between facilities. Read More »

VA contractor digitizes VA benefits backlog now eyes joint EHR

Jennifer Bresnick | EHR Intelligence | July 10, 2013

The Department of Veterans Affairs [VA] has a lot on its plate.  From its rocky path towards interoperability with the Department of Defense to a disability benefits claims queue stretching into the hundreds of thousands, there is a great deal of work to be done in order to provide service men and women with quality healthcare.  Read More »

VA CTO Peter Levin Details New White House Tech Council

Katelyn Noland | ExecutiveGov | April 11, 2012

The White House is set to launch a new federal technology council tasked with sharing insight into how to solve government-wide problems, Nextgov reports. Read More »

VA Data Exchange Practices Lack Security

Molly Bernhart Walker | FierceGovernmentIT | October 25, 2012

Veterans Affairs Department medical centers are not effectively or securely sharing data with research and university facilities, according to an Oct. 23 VA office of inspector general report (.pdf). Read More »

VA Dedicated To Both Vets' And Private Sector's HIT Advancement

Diana Manos | Healthcare IT News | March 4, 2013

Most people in the healthcare arena know that the Veterans Health Administration is the Big Kahuna when it comes to IT–always on the cutting edge of something involving electronic health records. But some may not be aware of how dedicated the VA is to helping the private sector advance, as well. Read More »

VA Departures Open Door To Speculation

Camille Tuutti | FCW | March 1, 2013

March 1 marks the start of sequestration, of course, but for the Veterans Affairs Department it brings another big change as well. VA CIO Roger Baker announced Feb. 15 his intent to step down, followed within days by CTO Peter Levin making his exit publicly known Feb. 19. Both said that March 1 would be their last official day on the job. Read More »

VA Details Plans to Replace Medical-Scheduling Platform

Brian T, Horowitz | eWeek | January 4, 2012

The Department of Veterans Affairs has launched an initiative to replace the medical-scheduling component of its electronic health record platform and is requesting proposals for how to update and rebuild the application. The Medical Scheduling Package (MSP) is part of the VA's Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) EHR platform. Read More »

VA Disability Claims For Sleep Apnea Skyrocket To Over $1.2 Billion Per Year

Caroline May | Daily Caller | June 4, 2013

The Department of Veterans Affairs is reportedly spending over $1.2 billion per year to treat sleep apnea, leading one attorney to call on Congress to investigate. Read More »

VA Downplays Claims Computers Being Taken Offline

Leo Shane III | Stars and Stripes | April 9, 2013

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ new claims processing system was taken offline for repairs this week, raising more questions about the department’s long-term plans to break the claims backlog. Read More »

VA Drive To Hire 1,600 Mental Health Professionals Hits Community Clinics’ Supply

Guy Gugliotta | Kaiser Health News | April 7, 2013

The Department of Veterans Affairs, trying to cope with a surge in psychological needs of veterans, has vowed to hire 1,600 additional mental health care professionals by the end of June, but some experts say the pool of qualified candidates is too small and the federal effort could jeopardize already-understaffed community health organizations. Read More »

VA Edges Closer to Rollout of New Health Record Platform

Chase Gunter | FCW | May 17, 2016

The Department of Veterans Affairs is edging closer to full deployment of a web-based modular electronic health record platform that promises to build on improvements in interoperability within VA and between VA and the Defense Department. Officials hope to have the Enterprise Health Management Platform up and running by the end of this summer. EHMP is a dynamic, web-based way to organize, display, search, filter and share patient data from VA's open-source VistA health record. EHMP provides a virtual space to develop and deploy specialized health and wellness applications for use by VA providers...

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VA Eliminates Bonuses For Benefits Officials

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | April 30, 2013

Senior executives of the Veterans Benefits Administration will not receive 2012 performance bonuses and the funds will be invested to accelerate elimination of the disability claims backlog, according to the Veterans Affairs Department. Read More »