| TURNAROUND:
SUDDENLY THE VA LOVES ITS VistA SOFTWARE
VA's CIO is calling VistA "the best in
the world" and seeking to offer it to the rest of the government
and the private health care industry.
NOTE
from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org ... The VistA electronic
health record (EHR) system revolutionized VA health care.
Much credit goes to Dr. Kenneth Kizer, often considered "the
Father of the modern VA."
It will be interesting to see if
VistA is adopted by others in the future ... it's basically free
because it is open-source software.
Use our search engine for more
about VistA ... here ...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=vista+cprs&op=or
... and Dr. Kenneth Kizer ...
here ...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=kizer&op=and
-------------------------
VA now loves its VistA software
by Dana Blankenhorn
http://healthcare.zdnet.com/?p=2836
The Veterans Administration
(VA), which a few years ago looked ready to scrap its
Veterans Health
Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA), is
now
looking into leveraging it elsewhere.
The
Industry Advisory Council (IAC), part of the
American Council for Technology (ACT), has set up a
VistA Working Group to examine the electronic health record (EHR)
system’s potential. The working group
met yesterday in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia.
The VA, which wrote VistA
starting in the 1980s, had been in the process of
replacing it with
proprietary software until this year.
 Now
VA CIO Roger Baker (right), who was
confirmed to his position in May, is calling VistA “the best
in the world” and seeking to offer it to the rest of the
government, and the health care industry.
It is an amazing turnaround for
VistA, which during the Bush years was being
systematically
starved for upgrade money.
Ed Meagher, who “retired”
from government service last year and took a job with
SRA International, a consulting company, is heading the new
working group.
Meagher was honored by
Federal Computer Week for
his service to veterans in 2005. A Vietnam Vet himself, he has
been active in the
Wounded Warrior project for
many
years. He has been listed as a member at Medsphere.org, the
community arm of a company commercializing VistA, since
October 12.
The IAC has given itself six
months to answer the following questions:
- What should VistA’s future be
outside the VA?
- Could it become a standard
for EHRs?
- How should it be upgraded?
- How would that impact its
future?
The list reads like a roadmap
for not only saving VistA, but making it a major player in the
battle for HITECH stimulus cash.
-------------------------
TOPICS:
veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs,
VistA, CPRS, EHR |
