“James Byrne, acting deputy secretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), told a Senate panel that the aging health IT infrastructure at VA facilities might complicate implementation of his agency’s electronic health record (EHR) modernization effort.”
“Byrne said his department has identified “limiting features” that could impact the timeline and cost of the EHR implementation…”
“Despite these limiting features, Byrne remains “pretty bullish” about meeting the timeline and cost targets of the EHR implementation, which is expected to take 10 years and cost $16 billion, up from an original $10 billion estimate…”
“In the Senate, Sen. John Tester (D-MT) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) have introduced a bill that would set up a third-party oversight committee to monitor the VA’s EHR project implementation.”
“The oversight committee would be separate from VA and the Department of Defense (DoD). The 11 committee members would include medical professionals, information technology and interoperability specialists, and veterans currently receiving care through the VA.” Read the full article here.
Source: Byrne Says Aging Health IT Infrastructure Complicates VA EHR Rollout – By Fred Donovan, May 21, 2019. HIT Infrastructure.
