Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

See the following -

VA Releases Findings On Deaths, Injuries From Delayed Tests

Howard Altman | TBO: The Tampa Tribune | April 7, 2014

Three veterans died and nine others were injured as the result of delays in treatment for gastrointestinal cancers in the VA’s Sunshine Healthcare Network serving Florida, southern Georgia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, according to a much-anticipated VA report released Monday. The report also laid out corrective measures being taken to prevent similar problems in the future

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VA Researchers Testing Cheaper Clinical Trials Using Tech

Alex Ruoff | Bloomberg BNA | August 25, 2016

Clinicians across more than 30 VA medical centers are taking part in a $10 million randomized clinical trial meant to compare two common treatments for hypertension. These doctors will not, however, noticeably change how they treat their patients or how they collect data about them. In fact, after veterans are enrolled in the trial, they will be asked to continue managing their blood pressure using their regular doctors, unlike in the vast majority of clinical trials where new doctors treat patients and study staff oversee them...

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VA Researching Natural Language Processing In EHRs To Prevent Suicide

Ashley Gold | FierceHealthIT | September 12, 2013

The U.S. Department of Veterans affairs is researching the use of natural language processing within its electronic health records system to automate suicide risk alerts. Read More »

VA Rolls Out Mobile App Pilots

Anthony Brino | Government Health IT | July 17, 2013

The Department of Veterans Affairs is testing the viability and potential of mobile health technologies with several pilot projects. Read More »

VA Says Claims Backlog Down 36 Percent Since March

Diana Manos | Government Health IT | December 18, 2013

Department of Veterans Affairs’ Under Secretary for Benefits Allison Hickey says the Veterans Benefits Administration is putting a big dent in the backlog of Veterans’ disability compensation and pension claims. In fact, the VBA has cut the backlog by 36 percent since last March, she told a recent hearing of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Read More »

VA Says It Deferred 2012 Bonuses For Some Health Execs

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | May 8, 2013

Veterans Affairs Department spokesman Josh Taylor defended VA’s system of paying executive bonuses, telling Nextgov the payments are necessary to “attract and retain the best and brightest leaders.” Read More »

VA Secretary Shinseki sees iEHR as remedy for claims backlog

Kyle Murphy | EHR Intelligence | November 12, 2012

The backlog of claims for veterans should progress more quickly once the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) completes its transition to the joint interactive EHR (iEHR), according to the Army Times. Read More »

VA Seeks 7 Percent IT Budget Boost, Passes on Defense Health Record Hosting

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | February 13, 2012

After two years without an increase, the Veterans Affairs Department requested a $3.37 billion information technology budget in 2013, up $216 million, or slightly less than 7 percent, from $3.11 billion in 2012. Just over $2 billion or 62 percent of that budget would be devoted to health care systems deployed to 152 department hospitals. Read More »

VA Seeks A 10 Percent IT Funding Boost In 2014

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | April 11, 2013

The Veterans Affairs Department requested $3.7 billion for its 2014 information technology budget -- a 10 percent jump over 2013 spending. W. Todd Grams, the department’s chief financial officer, told a press briefing Wednesday that IT is central to VA’s ability to deliver benefits. Read More »

VA Seeks Information on EHR Replacement for VistA

Greg Slabodkin | Health Data Management | August 12, 2016

The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued a request for information seeking industry feedback on how the VA might transition from its legacy electronic health record system to a commercial EHR. While it continues to modernize the decades-old Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) system, the VA is having second thoughts about whether the legacy EHR is able to meet its needs going forward...

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VA Seeks New Patient Scheduling System

Bob Brewin | NextGov | January 3, 2012

The Veterans Affairs Department has kicked off the contracting process to develop its new patient scheduling system, a follow-up to a nine year, $167 million project that collapsed in March 2009 and led VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to call for a review of all the department's information technology projects by February 2012. Read More »

VA Seeks To Quadruple Funding For Paperless Claims System

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | April 8, 2013

The Veterans Affairs Department will request a discretionary budget of $63.5 billion in 2014, a four percent increase over the 2013 funding levels President Obama approved last month and $500 million below what the department originally sought  for 2013, the White House said in a preliminary release of the VA budget. Read More »

VA Shifts VLER Work to $12B Contract

Nicole Blake Johnson | Federal Times | February 9, 2012

The Veterans Affairs Department is turning to companies on its $12 billion information technology contract to help develop the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Health Record, an initiative to provide veterans and service members with instant electronic access to their health and benefits information and other services.

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VA Shifts VLER Work to $12B Contract

Nicole Blake Johnson | Federal Times | February 9, 2012

The Veterans Affairs Department is turning to companies on its $12 billion information technology contract to help develop the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record, an initiative to provide veterans and service members with instant electronic access to their health and benefits information and other services.

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VA sparks VistA and OSEHRA innovation efforts

Patrick Ouellette | EHR Intelligence | October 17, 2012

From adding the enhanced Medsphere Systems File Manager (MSC FileMan) database management system to Open Source Electronic Health Record Agent (OSEHRA) to Veterans Affairs (VA) throwing the down the gauntlet regarding medical scheduling software, Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) has made quite a bit of news this week. Read More »