VA IT in the News

Appointment of Acting Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology -- Edward F. Meagher recently was appointed by Secretary Anthony Principi to serve as the Acting Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology. In this position he also serves as VA's Chief Information Officer, advising the Secretary on all matters pertaining to information and technology management in the Department.

National Technology Transfer Center Enables Partnership Empowering Veterans to Actively Participate in Their Own Medical Care -- WHEELING, W.Va., Aug. 21 (AScribe Newswire) -- U.S. veterans will soon have direct access to their personal medical records - such as prescriptions, test results, appointments and information about particular illnesses - through touchscreen kiosks being developed for use in Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) facilities nationwide. The National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC) facilitated a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between the Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis and DynaTouch Corp., San Antonio, to further develop the Touchscreen Self-Care Process Automation (TSCPA). TSCPA will allow veterans to view limited portions of their medical records; facilitate and automatically document patient education activities, thereby enabling shared care and addressing ongoing customer satisfaction survey results that indicate veterans would like more information about their illnesses, medications and tests; and eliminate the cost of staff data entry.

VA Joins HHS and DoD in 'Paperless' Health System -- WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - The government on July 1 announced several steps aimed at building a national system of fully electronic medical records and communications among doctors, patients and insurers. A key feature of this effort is SNOMED, software developed by the College of American Pathologists. SNOMED contains terms for more than 340,000 medical conditions and concepts. By using the program, physicians will be able to share treatment recommendations, lab results and medical histories with each other and with hospitals, even if they don't work for the same health care system. The Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs health systems will soon adopt SNOMED.

Australian VA Standardizes on LINUX Operating System -- ZD Net/Australia reports that one of Australia’s most notable Linux adopters, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, (DVA) says that support for Linux was just one of the reasons it selected the open source operating system. “IBM Australia’s support … was just one of the factors on which DVA based its decision to adopt the operating system,” said Tony Ablong, Manager Infrastructure Support and Services Group from DVA's Information Management Unit. While Ablong reserves judgement of support for operational systems – the Department’s Linux systems are not yet in production – support to date has at least met industry standards. “DVA considers that the level of support it has received to date is comparable to the support received on other commercial products used by the Department”.

VA Recognized for Section 508 Implementation -- Government Computer News reported that Mike Paciello, president of the Paciello Group LLC of Nashua, N.H. cited the CIA, National Cancer Institute, Social Security Administration and Veterans Affairs Department as agencies that have taken their Section 508 responsibility seriously. VA's Chief Enterprise Architect Sally Wallace credits the team led by Pat Sheehan and Susan Boaz.

O&IT Employees Receive SecureE-Biz Award -- Congratulations to IT employees in the Office of Policies, Plans and Programs for receiving the 2003 SecurE-Biz Award in the "Leadership in IT Business Case Development (Team)" category. The program recognizes those who have contributed most to furthering e-Business transformation, a cornerstone of the President's Management Agenda. The annual SecurE-Biz Leadership Awards Program is jointly organized by ICHnet.org, the Industry Advisory Council EA SIG, the Council for Excellence in Government, and the Federal CIO Council. The winners were announced during the SecurE-Biz Leadership Awards Ceremony on April 1st at the Crystal City Hilton in Arlington, Virginia. Recipients for the team award were:

• Don Neilson, Deputy ADAS, Policies, Plans and Programs,
• Don Howell, Director, IT Capital Planning Service,
• Tim Weigel, Lead IT Specialist,
• Carey Grunwald, IT Specialist,
• Genie McCully, Program Analyst, and
• Wandakay Wells, Program Analyst.

Project Management Training Gets Kudos -- The Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) recently sponsored the One VA Project Managers' Conference from March 10-13 in Dallas, Texas. Over 235 IT managers from across the Department participated in the conference, and OMB representatives who attended highly commended this OI&T initiative.

VA Forms Website - One Stop Shop for Veterans -- Veterans and others who transact business with VA now find and print electronic copies of VA, VBA, VHA and NCA forms at the VA website http://www.va.gov/vaforms/.  The site can be searched using the form number, keywords or title. Links to other useful forms websites are also provided. VA has invested in technology which will allow forms to be filled and printed and eventually be electronically transmitted. Forms will be added to the site as they are redesigned with this capability. The site is maintained by VA forms managers from VBA, VHA, and OA&MM.

IT News is published by the Office of Information and Technology to inform the VA IT community of projects, activities, significant accomplishments, and upcoming events. 

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