“The Veterans Affairs Department is still on track to debut its new and improved electronic health record system early next year, but the timelines for other modernization efforts are more uncertain, officials told Congress.”
“As the agency moves forward with multiple IT overhauls, lawmakers warned officials not to repeat the mismanagement that’s historically derailed their tech initiatives.”
“In the department’s annual budget hearing, Secretary Robert Wilkie and other leaders stressed the critical role of tech in streamlining the agency’s sprawling bureaucracy and improving services for some 9 million vets spread across the country. Though he admitted the department’s IT operations are far from perfect, Wilkie said resources are increasingly shifting away from maintaining legacy tech and toward standing up a modern IT infrastructure…”
“Beyond health records, the department is also in the process of joining the Pentagon’s medical supplies ordering system, according to Wilkie. Officials are also working to drastically consolidate the agency’s human resources infrastructure from 140 disparate systems down to 18, and expand its telehealth services by more than 50 percent, witnesses said…” Read the full article here.
Source: Management, Not Money, Will Make or Break VA Modernization, Lawmakers Say – By Jack Corrigan, March 26, 2019. Nextgov.
