Asked Bing to write about not replacing with Vista with Cerner

[mikegi...@aol.com]

# Why VA should not replace VistA with Cerner

 

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is in the midst of a massive and costly project to replace its legacy electronic health record (EHR) system, VistA (Veterans Health Information System and Technology Architecture), with a commercial system designed and built by Cerner Corporation. The project, which started in 2018 and is expected to take 10 years and cost $16 billion, has been plagued by delays, technical glitches, patient safety issues and congressional scrutiny.

 

While VA officials claim that adopting the same EHR platform as the Department of Defense (DoD) will improve interoperability, efficiency and quality of care for veterans, some experts and stakeholders argue that VistA is not broken and does not need to be replaced. They contend that VistA is a robust, flexible and innovative system that has served veterans well for decades and can be modernized and maintained at a fraction of the cost of Cerner.

 

VistA is one of the largest digital medical image repositories in the world, with over 10 billion images stored as part of the veterans' electronic medical records. It supports over 650 different models of image acquisition instruments and has been classified as a medical device by the Food and Drug Administration. VistA also has a loyal user base among VA clinicians, who have contributed to its development and customization over the years.

 

Some of the advantages of VistA over Cerner include:

 

- VistA is more adaptable to different clinical settings and workflows than Cerner, which is designed for standardization rather than customization.

- VistA has more functionality and features than Cerner, such as clinical reminders, order sets, templates, alerts and decision support tools.

- VistA has better performance and reliability than Cerner, which has experienced frequent system outages at VA sites where it has been implemented.

- VistA has better data quality and integrity than Cerner, which has been found to have errors in medication orders, lab results, allergies and other critical information.

- VistA has better integration with other VA systems than Cerner, which requires complex interfaces and data conversions that can compromise data accuracy and security.

 

Instead of replacing VistA with Cerner, VA should invest in modernizing VistA by migrating it to the cloud, enhancing its interoperability with DoD's EHR system, updating its user interface and adding new capabilities such as telehealth. These steps would improve VistA's performance,

usability

and scalability while preserving its strengths

and advantages.

 

Replacing VistA with Cerner is not only unnecessary but also risky for VA's mission to provide high-quality health care for veterans. It would disrupt clinical operations,

waste taxpayer money

and jeopardize patient safety. VA should reconsider its decision

and stick with

VistA.

[Nancy Anthracite]

Remarkable, isn't it, when a machine can figure it out, but not those in charge
planning on spending $50B on this.

--
Nancy Anthracite

[Dystan Hays]

Hello all,

On Wed, Mar 15, 2023 at 4:49 AM mikeginsburg via Hardhats <hard...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

# Why VA should not replace VistA with Cerner

 

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is in the midst of a massive and costly project to replace its legacy electronic health record (EHR) system, VistA (Veterans Health Information System and Technology Architecture), with a commercial system designed and built by Cerner Corporation. The project, which started in 2018 and is expected to take 10 years and cost $16 billion, has been plagued by delays, technical glitches, patient safety issues and congressional scrutiny.

 

While VA officials claim that adopting the same EHR platform as the Department of Defense (DoD) will improve interoperability, efficiency and quality of care for veterans, some experts and stakeholders argue that VistA is not broken and does not need to be replaced. They contend that VistA is a robust, flexible and innovative system that has served veterans well for decades and can be modernized and maintained at a fraction of the cost of Cerner.

  Amen!  {from an IT professional who has done nearly everything IT since the fifties).

  This country should, perhaps, consider having the Defense Dept. shift to Vista, instead (for reasons any fool can plainly see)!

      regards,  -- John Kirk

[Nancy Anthracite]

Secretary Shinseki tried VERY HARD to have the DOD go to VistA and offered to
help, but they would not agree despite the fact the Secretary CAME form the
DOD. Their excuses were poor. They don't know how to do anything but
contract for anything but training soldiers as best I can tell.

--
Nancy Anthracite