Why VA's electronic health record mega-project is failing

[don6...@gmail.com]

https://fcw.com/articles/2021/07/26/comment-veterans-affairs-ehrm-roger-baker.aspx

" Third, VA's EHRM program management organization exists outside both the business owner (the Veterans Health Administration) and the department's technology (OIT) organizations. The result is a lack of accountability for the success of the program by the two organizations most impacted by its success or failure. As the initial pilot of the EHRM system held in Spokane, Wash., has shown, the ability of the new EHR to fully support veteran care will be the primary determinant of program success. Yet VHA, the recipient and arbiter of that success, is only tangentially accountable. As part of its program reassessment, VA must determine how to better involve VHA and OIT, including making their leadership directly accountable and responsible for program success or failure."

[More at the link above]

[r...@rcresearch.us]

I know that misery loves company, but the Department of Defense has
spent many times the amount that was invested in the Composite Health
Care System (CHCS-1) and has an inferior product that is universally
hated, and after Trump turned so hard toward privatized health records
for the VA they modeled the disaster of the DoD to find an answer.
Bad choice. Getting the power of VistA back in service and keeping
the patient histories intact in VistA is the only thing that makes
sense. We need to get back to sanity and stop throwing money at a
corporation that knows not how to actually do the task and does not
listen to the people at the point of care, the real subject matter
experts. We need to get this privatization effort stopped and enable
the folks in the hospitals and clinics back in charge. We will get a
better product and a better growth path for the record systems at the
hospitals. More technology needs to be adopted and developed for
making VistA even stronger and a package that can be flexible enough
to address the creativity at the hospitals and tha increases the
worker retention.

Chris Richardson, retired from OI&T at the Oakland Office of Information


Quoting "don6...@gmail.com" <don6...@gmail.com>:

> https://fcw.com/articles/2021/07/26/comment-veterans-affairs-ehrm-roger-baker.aspx
>
> *" Third, VA's EHRM program management organization exists outside both the

> business owner (the Veterans Health Administration) and the department's
> technology (OIT) organizations. The result is a lack of accountability for
> the success of the program by the two organizations most impacted by its
> success or failure. As the initial pilot of the EHRM system held in
> Spokane, Wash., has shown, the ability of the new EHR to fully support
> veteran care will be the primary determinant of program success. Yet VHA,
> the recipient and arbiter of that success, is only tangentially
> accountable. As part of its program reassessment, VA must determine how to
> better involve VHA and OIT, including making their leadership directly

> accountable and responsible for program success or failure."*

>
> [More at the link above]
>

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[ivaldes]

 JLV was a perfectly good cost-effective solution and that's were it should have begun and ended. There really isn't a clear demarcation between public and private. Cache--Private, Delphi--Private, PC's--Private, Windows--Private, Hardware--Private, FOIA VistA/CPRS code/Other--Public.  At least 3 private VistA vendors. Lots of companies are doing VistA development in the private sector that have some remarkably good improvements that are used daily in real clinical circumstances. Why Cerner will surely fail is from its relatively closed nature. Pretty much all high government leadership was on board with this starting with the Obama administration, continuing with Trump and predictably it was going to take a long time for leadership to understand that it isn't/wasn't going to work. No one party or leader has a monopoly on stupid.  The interesting thing is I wonder what shifted in their thinking recently that it has turned negative.  But it will go back to confused VA leadership on what to do with VistA. They never seem to learn that in this case steady incremental progress is superior to rip and replace or 100 million to billion dollar projects. It isn't their money to spend so they spend a lot.