In an attempt to decrease the wait times for medical care, the Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded health IT vendor Document Storage Systems a $19.6 million contract to give a mobile-based, commercial off-the-shelf patient self-scheduling app system as key part of a VA pilot program.
The Faster Care for Veterans Act of 2016 instructed the agency to inaugurate an 18-month pilot under which veterans could utilize a website or mobile app to schedule and confirm medical appointments at VA facilities. The law needs that the pilot be rolled out to at least 3 Veterans Integrated Service Networks.
The pilot of VA will leverage the DSS ForSite2020 scheduling software, which will be integrated with the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA), enabling consumers to schedule and confirm primary care, specialty care and mental health appointments through a mobile device or computer. The app will enable sufferers to request, schedule, confirm, modify or cancel appointments 24 hour each day.
“The VA is making crucial improvements to veteran healthcare and will always look to leverage creative tools that will put more capabilities in the hands of Veterans,” stated VA Secretary David Shulkin, MD. “Patient Self-scheduling app system is widely used in the private sector and will assist to develop a better experience for veterans and their medical care providers.”
Presently, the agency is pursuing a dual-track modernization approach to its medical appointment scheduling by investing in commercial as well as VA-developed systems. In accordance to the VA’s Office of Veterans Access to Care, it is working to make better both external “veteran-facing” and internal “scheduler-facing” scheduling apps.
Besides the commercial veteran-facing Faster Care mobile app from DSS, the VA has deployed its internally developed Veterans Appointment Request (VAR) app to almost 100 sites nationally.
“VA’s Mobile Veterans Appointment Request app, presently available at 99 sites, also gives most of the primary capabilities required by the Faster Care for Veterans Act and is modeled after victorious mobile applications used for patient self-scheduling app system,” in accordance to an agency statement. “VA intends to sustain development of VAR to incorporate new capabilities.”
The Veterans Appointment Request app makes it possible for veterans to patient self-scheduling app system primary care appointments and request help in booking both primary care and mental health appointments at the VA facilities where they get care. In addition to scheduling appointments, the app is capable to trace appointment details and the status of requests, send messages about requested appointments and get notifications and cancel appointments.
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