“The reality is there is no system that can support both DOD and the VA at the same time,” said LaVerne Council, the VA’s assistant secretary for information and technology. She spoke during a Senate subcommittee hearing to review the VA’s EHR system, VistA, or Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture.
The VA is on schedule to finish the next stage of VistA updates, said Council. She told the committee that the agency hopes the improvements will lead to more efficiency and interoperability by 2018. However, Government Accountability Office (GAO) official Valerie Melvin claimed that delays in modernizing VistA has caused the program to become outdated. As a result, the system faces technical difficulties.
Melvin contended that the VA and DOD interoperability initiative has been hindered by the lack of “outcome-oriented goals and metrics to clearly define what they aim to achieve” through interoperability. “We have not seen clear planning across VA and DOD.” Melvin testified that a modernized VA EHR system is still years away.
A 2015 GAO report recommended the two government agencies work together to create a strong healthcare network for both service members and veterans. However, the attempt was unsuccessful due to their different IT infrastructures. Council said the VA may either “continue with VistA, shift to a commercial EHR platform as DOD is doing, or some combination of both.”
The post Uncertainty looms over future of VA health records first appeared on SEONewsWire.net.]]>DOD is going to look to a commercial solution to Electronic Health Records (HER). The need to coordinate with VA still exists. Will the commercial solution be able to communicate seamlessly with VA’s system. We are told it will but the DOD system may cost $16 billion. We are not left with a great deal of confidence in the new direction. The problem of lack of coordinated EHR may continue for years.
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