Monday, June 6, 2016

VA EHR Optimization Attempts an Uncertainty for Congress

A House subcommittee is looking a GAO research of the EHR optimization attempts underway or planned at VA.


The Department of Defense (DoD) is not the only federal agency in the midst of a huge EHR modernization project, with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) also working to upgrade its present EHR technology called as the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA). And it is the latter that is raising concerns among members of Congress.


In a letter to the head of the Government Accountability Office, Representatives Will Hurd (R-TX) and Robin Kelly (D-IL) of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Technology inquired the federal agency to study the VA's EHR modernization project of VistA.


"Given the importance of VA's electronic health record information system to the performance of its health care mission, and in light of VA's repeated attempts to modernize VistA, the Subcommittee is requesting data on the attempts to modernize VistA," wrote Hurd and Kelly.


"In specific, we would like to get data on the history of VA's efforts to modernize VistA, involving the prices and results of the efforts, the key contractors that have been involved, and the work that these contractors performed," the letter continued. "In addition, we inquire that the study determines VA's current plans and estimated costs for modernizing VistA."

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