US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

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OSEHRA Debuts 2015 Innovation Webinar Series

Press Release | OSEHRA | January 16, 2015

OSEHRA is excited to announce confirmed speakers for the Innovation Webinar Series, an engaging and free online event hosted monthly by OSEHRA, its members, and those on the forefront of open source. Read More »

OSEHRA Is On the Move

OSEHRA is on the Move. As we clear the hurdles of establishing Governance structure, clarifying Vision, implementing work Processes, and employing our IT Infrastructure and Development Tools, we simultaneously are preparing ourselves for the long run with the Open Source community. April 2012 was a busy month. We began the month by convening our first meeting of the OSEHRA Board of Directors; General (Retired) James Peake, Mr. Michael O’Neill and Dr. John Halamka. This inaugural Board meeting marks our official emergence as an independent organization with its own governing board. We will publish the meeting minutes on our web-site.

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OSEHRA to Hold Community Calls to Discuss VA Digital Health Platform [Updated]

OSEHRA is holding a community call today and next Thursday, Sept. 29, with the open health community to discuss the response of the open source community to the recently release RFI by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for a "digital health platform." Notice with details from Seong K. Mun below..."According to the RFI (which is attached to this message), VHA "desires a Next Generation Digital Health Platform that is integrated, future-proof and optimizes the cost of operations. To achieve these goals, VA is considering establish an interoperable digital health platform that leads to Easier Access to Care for the Veteran, Better Outcomes for the Veteran and more efficient operations for the VHA"

OSEHRA's Synthetic Patient Data Project Group Releases End-to-End Open Source Patient Data Software Package

Press Release | OSEHRA, Perspecta, MITRE | July 1, 2019

OSEHRA's Synthetic Patient Data Open Source Project Group is proud to announce the release of their end-to-end open source patient data software package. Sponsored by Perspecta Inc., an OSEHRA Organizational Member, this group has worked for more than a year to make it possible for users to generate, visualize, and ingest synthetic patient data with a single command. "The lack of realistic clinical data that mimics the volume, velocity, and variety of real-world patient records has been an impediment to health IT development, testing, and simulation," said Bo Dagnall, chair of the Project Group and Chief Technologist and Strategist for Perspecta's Health Business Group. 

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PatientPoint Partners with The Veteran Group to Offer Vital Patient Education to Veterans

Press Release | PatientPoint, The Veteran Group | November 9, 2017

PatientPoint®, the trusted leader in patient and physician engagement solutions, is partnering with The Veteran Group to offer award-winning point-of-care education to Veterans Affairs (VA) and other federal healthcare provider facilities. The Veteran Group is a VA-certified, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business that provides information technology and business management consulting and solutions to the VA and other federal healthcare partners. Through this partnership, The Veteran Group will install and deploy PatientPoint products among VA and other government and commercial customer facilities.

Payam Etminani

Payam Etminani is the CEO and Co-Founder of Bitscopic. Etminani co-founded Bitscopic after a colleague, friend and mentor at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), John Lopez, contracted a hospital acquired infection at a VA hospital. Read More »

Pentagon's $11 Billion Healthcare Record System Will Be Obsolete Before It's Even Built

Loren Thompson | Forbes | March 3, 2015

In order to understand why the modernization initiative is doomed to failure, you need only grasp the significance of two key phrases the program office uses in its approach to industry for proposals.  First, it says it is seeking a “state-of-the-market” electronic health record system.  Second, it says whatever it selects will be an “off-the-shelf” product.  In other words, it is seeking to acquire an electronic health record system that already exists in an industry noted for its antiquated approach to the movement of information.

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Pikeville Medical Center Selects OpenVista Healthcare IT Platform

Press Release | Medsphere, Pikeville Medical Center | January 25, 2016

Medsphere Systems Corporation,..today announced that  Pikeville Medical Center (PMC) has selected the OpenVista® electronic health record (EHR) system for implementation. The 261-bed regional referral center and its clinics will utilize OpenVista's flexibility and comprehensive clinical support, as well as Medsphere’s rapid implementation process, to affordably manage care and realize technology objectives. As a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network, PMC patients have access to Mayo Clinic expertise without having to travel to an actual Mayo facility. 

PwC Pitches Open-Source Electronic Health Records

Adam Mazmanian | FCW | October 29, 2014

One of the entrants in the military's $11 billion electronic health record procurement is proudly flying the open source flag. The group led by PricewaterhouseCoopers includes General Dynamics IT and two open source health record providers whose products are based on the open source Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) -- DSS Inc. and MedSphere.

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RAND Corporation study: VA Health System Generally Delivers Higher-Quality Care Than Other Health Providers

Press Release | Rand Corporation | April 26, 2018

The VA health care system performs similar to or better than non-VA systems on most measures of inpatient and outpatient care quality, although there is high variation in quality across individual VA facilities, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Examining a wide array of commonly used measures of health care quality, researchers found that VA hospitals generally provided better quality care than non-VA hospitals and the VA's outpatient services were better quality when compared to commercial HMOs, Medicaid HMOs and Medicare HMOs...“Consistent with previous studies, our analysis found that the VA health care system generally provides care that is higher in quality than what is offered elsewhere in communities across the nation,” said Rebecca Anhang Price, lead author of the study and senior policy researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.

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Regenstrief Institute Research Scientist Theresa Cullen, M.D., Receives Women In Leadership Award

Press Release | Regenstrief Institute | October 21, 2019

Regenstrief Institute research scientist Theresa Cullen, M.D., has won a Leading for Impact, Women in Leadership award. The award recognizes women who are creating impact and leading programs across the federal technology, health and consulting community. The award is given by FedHealthInnovation & Technology (FedHealthIT), which is a consolidated news source for information related to federal health agencies. Dr. Cullen also is the associate director of the Regenstrief Institute Global Health Informatics program and the interim director of strategic planning and communications for LOINC. She recently led a project to help the United States government's Indian Health Service identify and define its needs for a new health information technology system.

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ReWalk Featured in VA National Multi-Center Clinical Exoskeleton Trial

Press Release | ReWalk Robotics | February 3, 2016

ReWalk Robotics Ltd...announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs ("VA") has publicly listed details of a national, multi-center study utilizing the Company's Personal 6.0 Exoskeleton Systems. The VA released full details of the study titled, "Exoskeleton Assisted-Walking in Persons With SCI: Impact on Quality of Life" on the clinical trials section of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) website (www.clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02658656). Several key components of the study outlined by the VA, include...

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ReWalk Robotics Exoskeleton Deemed Medically Necessary by Independent Medical Review Organization

Press Release | ReWalk Robotics | February 16, 2016

ReWalk Robotics Ltd...announced today that a commercial health plan in the Northwest region of the United States has approved coverage and reimbursement for a ReWalk Personal exoskeleton system, following the ruling of an external independent review organization that overturned the health plan's initial denial of coverage. The beneficiary of the ReWalk device is a surgeon who suffered a spinal cord injury and currently uses a manual custom wheelchair 11 hours a day at work.  Use of the ReWalk will permit the beneficiary to stand up and ambulate both at work and in the home.

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Sacred Oak Medical Center Selects Medsphere's OpenVista EHR

Press Release | Medsphere, RedShift Healthcare Management and Consulting | June 16, 2016

Medsphere Systems Corporation...today announced that Sacred Oak Medical Center has chosen the OpenVista® electronic health record (EHR) system for implementation. The brand new Houston-based inpatient behavioral health hospital will open later this summer with 20 beds and expand over time to an 80-bed capacity..."The benefits of EHR implementation apply to behavioral health care and addiction treatment, just as they do in acute medical care,” said RedShift Managing Partner Starsky Bomer. 

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Samuel Shem Calls for Using VistA and the VA Model of Care to Solve the Physician Burnout Crisis

On November 1st Newsweek published an extraordinary Op-Ed by Samuel Shem titled Why Computerized Medical Records Are Bad for Both You and Your Doctor. In the article, Shem, pen name for the American psychiatrist and well-known author Stephen Joseph Bergman, presents evidence that poorly designed electronic medical records (EMRs) and over-regulation are to blame for the growing crisis of physician burnout and suicide. The rate of suicides among physicians has risen to a staggering number--three per day. Shem argues that there is a "better way," and that is shown by the electronic health record (EHR) system used by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VA's EHR is called VistA. Shem's view is supported by a large and increasing number of physicians and nurses. Read More »