VA IT Budget to Get a Boost in House Spending Bill

While many federal agencies anticipate budget cuts this year, the Veterans Affairs Department’s information technology budget would get a 6.5 percent raise if a proposal from a key House committee prevails. Republican leaders in the House Appropriations Committee allocated $3.3 billion for VA’s IT systems in fiscal 2013, which is a $200 million boost from the $3.1 billion current level, according to the legislation released by the committee on May 7.

That amounts to a 6.5 percent increase in funding for the office headed by CIO Roger Baker. Major programs run by the VA’s IT office include modernization of the “VistA” legacy digital health record system, MyHealtheVet electronic record system, the Blue Button Initiative for downloadable health records and the DOD-VA integrated health record...