VA To Ditch Antiquated Electronic-Records System For One Used By Defense Department
Secretary David Shulkin says the change will let the agencies' systems work together seamlessly.
The Wall Street Journal:
Veterans Affairs To Adopt Medical-Records System Defense Department Uses
The head of the Department of Veterans Affairs said Monday the agency will scrap its current electronic-records system and use the same system as the one now operating at the Defense Department. Dr. David Shulkin, the VA secretary, said the department will transition away from its antiquated electronic-records system and use a system interoperable with that used by the Defense Department, a yearslong goal for the two departments. (Kesling, 6/5)
KCUR:
VA Awards Big Electronic Health Records Contract To Cerner
Shulkin said the VA will adopt the same EHR system as the Defense Department, which is based on Cerner’s Millenium product. Until now, the two organizations have not adopted the same EHR system, instead spending hundreds of millions of dollars on “interoperability” – or ensuring the different IT and software systems can communicate with one another. (Margolies, 6/5)
The Associated Press:
Trump Tweets That VA's Planned Records Overhaul 'Is One Of The Biggest Wins' For Veterans In Decades
Under the proposed change, the VA will work immediately to sign a contract with Cerner Corp., which designed the Pentagon's system, known as MHS Genesis. Shulkin said that because all the VA's patients originate in the Pentagon system, the VA would be better served if it could "trade information seamlessly." To expedite the process, Shulkin said he intended to bypass competitive bidding in favor of Cerner, noting that it took the Pentagon 26 months to finalize its contact. (6/5)
In other national health care news —
Reuters:
Top Court Exempts Church-Affiliated Hospitals From Pension Law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that church-affiliated hospital systems do not have to comply with a federal law governing employee pensions, overturning lower court decisions that could have cost the hospitals billions of dollars. The court ruled 8-0 that church-affiliated organizations are exempt from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a 1974 law that forces private employers to follow rules aimed at protecting pension plan participants. (Chung, 6/5)
The Washington Post:
America Is A World Leader In Health Inequality
The divide between health outcomes for the richest and poorest Americans is among the largest in the world, according to a new study. Of people in households making less than $22,500 a year, 38 percent reported being in poor or fair health in a survey taken between 2011 and 2013. That's more than three times the rate of health troubles than faced by individuals in households making more than $47,700 a year, where only 12 percent of people reported being in poor to fair health, according to the findings published in Health Affairs. (Johnson, 6/5)
Stat:
The 20 Most-Googled Diseases
More than a third of all American adults have gone online to find a diagnosis, according to a 2013 Pew survey, and half of those people wound up discussing what they found with their health care provider. Looking for a digital diagnosis can either increase or alleviate concerns about a possible illness, according to Microsoft researchers. And there’s even a word that’s cropped up — “cyberchondria” — to describe what happens when searching for medical information starts to become a condition unto itself. (Sheridan, 6/6)