Department of Veterans Affairs
Senior leaders from the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs have been increasingly vocal in recent weeks about the work they have been doing over the past two years to achieve interoperability in the absence of a common electronic health record, vowing that they can meet Congress’ goal of health data interoperability without actually using the same software.
August 02, 2015-
The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are about to undergo a quantum leap in their ability to exchange patient medical records between doctors in the two health systems – and it’s got nothing to do with the $9 billion electronic health record DoD announced it was buying this week. More from Federal News Radio’s DoD reporter Jared Serbu.
July 31, 2015 -
Your work computer may look very different soon as Microsoft releases Windows 10. Some agencies have transitioned to Windows 7, but some agencies are still on Windows XP, which Microsoft doesn't support any more. Roger Baker is former assistant secretary of Veterans Affairs for information and technology at the Veterans Affairs Department. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose about the pitfalls and benefits of managing a huge IT transition.
July 29, 2015 -
Employees at the headquarters at the Department of Veterans Affairs have the ear of Congress. The Chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee — Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) — tells In Depth with Francis Rose his most recent visit to VA included discussions with employees at every level of the agency.
July 29, 2015 -
The Pentagon capped off a more than two-year acquisition process for a new electronic health record Wednesday afternoon, awarding a $4.3 billion contract to a consortium of companies led by Leidos.
July 29, 2015 -
The Department of Veterans Affairs will have to shutter some facilities beginning in August if Congress does not approve an emergency reallocation of funds, officials said Wednesday. Congressional overseers are displeased, saying they were blindsided by VA’s budget emergency.
July 23, 2015 -
Veterans Affairs officials tell Congress today that they will have to begin a partial shutdown of the department unless Congress reallocates money into VA’s medical services accounts by next week. Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu reports, the shutdown would impact virtually every VA medical center in the country.
July 22, 2015 -
A bill that makes it easier for the Veterans Affairs Secretary to fire senior executives could extend to all other employees at the department. The probationary period for new employees would also get longer -- from 12 to 18 months. House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller says too few people at the department have been held accountable for the patient wait time scandal that emerged into public view last year -- nor for other management failings at VA. The VA Accountability Act of 2015 cleared the committee earlier this week. It will likely go to a full House vote during the last week in July. Carol Bonosaro is the president of the Senior Executives Association, which drafted a letter to Congress this week raising several objections to the bill. She tells In Depth guest host Jared Serbu about the differences between this bill, and a similar one introduced in Congress last year.
July 17, 2015 -
VA Accountability Act of 2015, would extend the probationary period for new employees to at least 18 months from the current 12. All employees would have a shorter window in which to appeal their firing or demotion.
July 15, 2015 -
A new Government Accountability Office report suggests the Veterans Affairs Department is being too generous with some of its benefits. More vets are claiming unemployability benefits because of service-related injuries, and a greater proportion of them are past retirement age. That raises the question of what unemployability benefits are supposed to do in the first place. Daniel Bertoni is GAO's Director of Education, Workforce and Income Security. He joined Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to answer that question.
July 13, 2015 -
Veterans Affairs wants to make its MyHealtheVet web portal easier to use. Appointment scheduling is a key priority as the design improves vets' ability to schedule appointments on their desktop, mobile device or at in-facility kiosks. Kim Nazi is a senior program and management analyst in the Veterans and Consumer Health Informatics Office of the Veterans Health Administration. She joined Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive with more of the MyHealtheVet redesign specifics.
July 10, 2015 -
Thirty-nine out of 41 of the Veterans Affairs Department's outpatient leasing projects -- worth about $2.5 billion -- are running behind schedule. Delays range anywhere between six months to 13 years. Most of the delays happened before the VA began the lease agreement because the Veterans Health Administration didn't detail the project's requirements on time. Dave Wise is a director of physical infrastructure issues at the Government Accountability Office. He testified recently before the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose the reason behind most of the delays and where in the leasing process things started to slow down.
July 06, 2015 Steph Warren, VA’s chief information officer, is cautiously optimistic about the trajectory of cyber attacks against his agency. After hitting a peak of one billion attempted malware intrusions in the month of March, the figure fell to half that in May. As Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu reports, VA is crediting better perimeter defenses and tighter controls on employees’ access to suspicious websites.
July 06, 2015-
Statistics from the Department of Veterans Affairs show a significant decline in malware making its way into the department’s networks over the past two months. VA officials credit the government’s approach to “collective” cybersecurity.
July 03, 2015 -
The Supreme Court only hears a few dozen cases a year. But one on the docket will answer big questions around contracting practices by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The question for the court is does the VA have to give preference to veteran-owned small businesses in all instances? Steve Koprince, managing partner of Koprince Law, tells In Depth with Francis Rose about the case's potential impact.
July 02, 2015