Veterans Health Administration (VHA)

See the following -

Document Search Tool May Boost Treatment of Vets with Congestive Heart Failure

Press Release | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs | October 27, 2016

A specialist in biomedical informatics, Dr. Jennifer Garvin has long been interested in improving the care of heart failure patients through evidence-based medical therapy. Cardiovascular disease, the number-one killer of Americans, is the leading cause of hospitalization in VA. Garvin, with the VA Salt Lake City (Utah) Health Care System, thus obtained VA funding and collaborated with colleagues to advance care in this area. She focused on the use of natural language processing, technology similar to that used by IBM Watson in VA...

Read More »

DoD Chooses Interoperability Over Integration For New E-Health Record System

Jared Serbu | Federal News Radio | May 23, 2013

The Defense Department still is a long way from picking a successor to its aging electronic health record system. But the Pentagon said Wednesday that whatever it settles on, it's committed to open data standards, and proprietary solutions are off limits. Read More »

Ebola in the United States: Short on Accountable 'Open' Information, Effective Systems Planning and Decision Making

Events in the present Ebola crisis prompt unease that the United States deployment of Web based, standardized population health and biosurveillance information services is fragmented, incomplete and insufficient, prompting me to write this blog. The United States has made significant progress in public health and medical preparedness since the 9/11 terrorist attacks; yet, poorly interconnected information systems add to our vulnerability to planning and response to viruses like Ebola or enviro virus EV-D68 that threaten the health of large populations. Today, a gap exists between information technology specialists and public health programmatic or scientific personnel. 

Read More »

EHI CCIO: Take In A New VistA

Carl Reynolds | eHealth Insider | April 12, 2012

The aim of the EHI CCIO Campaign is helping to develop the next generation of clinical information leaders. To provide a junior doctor’s perspective, Carl Reynolds, a self-professed IT enthusiast, is writing a column for EHI on NHS IT. In his third column, he discusses VistA, and why he thinks it should be adopted in the NHS. Read More »

EHRs And Multi-Provider Use: Lessons From The VA

Austin Frakt | The Health Care Blog | August 17, 2009

With billions of dollars of stimulus funds available and the President and state governors promoting them, electronic health records (EHRs) are likely to become commonplace in the U.S. health care system. [...] While EHRs are praised for their promise to increase efficiency and safety, it is still an open question how much of those benefits will be realized or when. Read More »

Fewer Hospitalizations For Diabetic Veterans Using VA’s Home-Based Care

Kathryn Doyle | Reuters | September 16, 2014

For older U.S. military veterans with multiple chronic conditions, including diabetes, taking advantage of home-based primary care from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was linked to fewer hospitalizations, in a recent study...

Read More »

Five Facts About Veterans’ Health Care

Sarah Kliff | Washington Post | November 12, 2012

With more than 1,400 hospitals, nursing homes and clinics nationwide, the Department of Veterans Affairs operates the country’s largest health care system. On Veterans Day, here’s a look at how it operates, who it covers and what role it plays in the larger American health care system. Read More »

Fixing The Veteran's Healthcare Mess

Carolyn McClanahan | Forbes.com | June 4, 2014

What went wrong with our Veteran’s health care system? It comes down to two main culprits – first, the system was asked to do too much, and second, incentives put in place to make the system perform better backfired. In this post, I address the stresses in the Veterans Health Administration, how the incentives backfired, and ways to help get the VA health care system back on track...

Read More »

For V.A. Hospitals (And Patients), A Major Health Victory

Tina Rosenberg | The New York Times | January 30, 2015

Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the United States is making modest progress in bringing down rates of hospital-acquired infections...

Read More »

Foreign Countries Hack VA System And Expose Vulnerabilities

Patrick Ouellette | HealthITSecurity.com | June 5, 2013

The Veterans Health Administration, the largest integrated health care system in the U.S., has reportedly been hacked numerous times by foreign countries such as China and Russia since 2010... Read More »

Fresh Start At The VA

Alvin Powell | Harvard Gazette | November 25, 2014

U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Robert McDonald says the troubled agency is making slow progress in getting its house in order, citing more — and more timely — appointments and authorizations to see private doctors for veterans who live far from VA hospitals...

Read More »

Grading the Public Options That Already Exist

Sabrina Shankman | Pro Publica | October 28, 2009

Pundits and politicians from both sides of the fence have been hollering themselves blue about a potential public health care option. Instead of relying on private insurers, the government would insure people itself...Two of the three health care reform bills in Congress have a public option. What might a public option look like in practice? One way to find out is to look at what's already out there. Read More »

Harris Corporation Solution To Help Improve Communications Between Veterans And U.S. Department Of Veterans Affairs

Press Release | MicroPact, Harris Corporation | September 25, 2013

Harris to provide enterprise Correspondence Tracking Software across Veterans Affairs.
Will improve efficiency in handling thousands of daily inquiries and requests.
Three-year, $8 million contract awarded under T4 contract vehicle. Read More »

HCA Healthcare Can't Hide From Hurricanes With 45 Hospitals In Florida, So It Preps Like It's The Apocalypse

Blake Farmer | Nashville Public Radio | September 3, 2019

As Hurricane Dorian threatened the Florida coast, top officials at HCA spent Labor Day weekend wringing their hands, pulling all-nighters in a Nashville command center. It almost didn't matter where the storm hits; HCA Healthcare's hospitals were going to be affected. With dozens of hospitals on Florida's east and west coasts, the for-profit hospital chain is exposed every time a hurricane threatens the Sunshine State. Late last week, the nation's largest hospital company granted WPLN rare access to observe storm preparations as Dorian bore down on the Florida coast. The mood was serious. Chatter was limited. The only sound competing with speakers was the hum of fingers on laptops taking furious notes.

Read More »

Health Care Modernization On Track, Acquisition Chief Says

Jim Garamone | U.S. Department of Defense | June 26, 2014

A multi-billion dollar acquisition to modernize DoD’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) and improve interoperability of healthcare information between the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs is on track, the Program Executive Officer for the Defense Healthcare Management Systems Modernization and Integrated Electronic Health Records program said today...

Read More »