New VA electronic health record system under way

By HOPE YEN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) – Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is announcing plans to revamp the department’s information technology system. He says the VA will adopt a commercial IT product used by the Pentagon in a bid to improve veterans’ care and reduce wait times for medical appointments.

Shulkin made the announcement Monday. It followed a tweet by President Donald Trump teasing that it will “be a big day for our veterans.”

The new system would replace the VA’s aging electronic medical records system, known as Vista, in use for decades.

Under the proposal, the VA will begin immediately to implement the system. Shulkin says because all VA patients originate in the Pentagon system, the VA needed to “trade information seamlessly.”

He did not provide a cost estimate or time frame for implementation.

(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)