“Health care and IT professionals in the department are looking at their “18 for ’18” — 18 collaborative projects and priorities that both the Veterans Health Administration and VA Office of Information and Technology (VAOT) are looking toward for this year.”
“Telehealth, veterans’ homelessness and suicide prevention are among the 18. But the new electronic health record has a prominent spot on the list, and it’s perhaps the biggest priority that will consume practically every facet of the department — that will extend well beyond 2018…”
“[We want to] get very crystal clear on what we’re going to deliver, particularly in a world in which we don’t have infinite resources,” Scott Blackburn, executive in charge for VA’s Office of Information and Technology, said Tuesday during AFCEA Bethesda’s Health IT Day. “Typically, at the VA, we get distracted by shiny objects…”
“…In the meantime, VA is upgrading its infrastructure now, so each site is physically prepared to use the new Cerner system when it’s eventually deployed.”
“We can’t take the brand-new engine and stick it on the Model T and expect it to do something different than the Model T did,” said John Short, executive director for information technology systems migration at VA’s Office of Information and Technology (VA OI&T).”
“The department is also creating data migration and workflow plans for the new EHR. The goal, Short said, is to be better prepared to pare down about 130 different versions of VA’s homegrown Veterans Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA)…”
Source: How VA is beginning the 10-year push to adopt a new electronic health record – By Nicole Ogrysko, January 17, 2018. Federal News Radio. Read the full article here.
