Electronic Health Records | The Contracting Education Academy

February 23, 2018 By AMK

VA secretary on $10 billion health records contract: ‘We have to get this one right’

Embroiled in allegations that taxpayers improperly paid for his wife’s travels, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin promised to Congress that the agency responsible for caring for more than 9 million veterans would be better stewards of taxpayer dollars.

Shulkin, testifying before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs Thursday, told lawmakers he would follow recommendations made by the VA inspector general and personally reimburse the Treasury for several thousand dollars’ worth of expenses accumulated by his wife, who accompanied him on a trip to Europe last year.

Shulkin had been slated to appear before the House committee before the IG report went public to provide insight regarding President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2019 budget proposal, which seeks $198 billion for the department. That budget, however, includes a reduction of 27 full-time positions within the department’s office of inspector general, “leaving OIG far short of their desired staffing level,” said Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minnesota.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2018/02/va-secretary-10b-health-records-contract-we-have-get-one-right/146026/

June 14, 2017 By AMK

VA to adopt same commercial health records platform as DoD

The Veterans Affairs Department will implement the same electronic health records platform as the Defense Department, according to an announcement today from Secretary David Shulkin.

In a press release, Shulkin said he took the unique step of signing a “determination of findings” in order to issue a solicitation directly to Cerner Corp., which—together with Leidos in a $4 billion contract—is developing DOD’s MHS Genesis platform.

“Because of the urgency and the critical nature of this decision, I have decided that there is a public interest exception to the requirement for full and open competition in this technology acquisition,” Shulkin said in a statement.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/health/2017/06/veterans-affairs-adopt-same-commercial-health-records-platform-dod/138398

March 27, 2017 By AMK

VA Secretary promises decision on whether to go to commercial health records

Newly confirmed Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin promised last week his department would decide by July whether to move to a commercial health records system.

It’s a decision Shulkin said should have been made years ago.

“From my perspective, I wish this decision had been made by a prior secretary,” said Shulkin, speaking at an event hosted by Politico. “It’s been kicked down the road. If I could back up time, I believe it’s a mistake to not have made a decision with [the Defense Department] at the time. I’m not saying who made the mistake.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/health/2017/03/va-secretary-promises-decision-whether-go-commercial-health-records/136337

July 22, 2015 By AMK

Pentagon’s $11 billion health records deal to be awarded by month’s end

All signs point to the Defense Department awarding its multi-billion Defense Healthcare Management System (DHMS) contract by the end of July.

The Pentagon’s public notice for the contract, which was first released almost 18 months ago, was closed for discussion July 14, one month after DOD’s Office of Inspector General announced it would be looking into DHMS’s acquisition strategy. Bloomberg also reported a DOD spokeswoman confirmed an award would be made by July 31.

The Defense Healthcare Management System (DHMS) was chartered by the Secretary of Defense in 2013 to improve the health care of active duty military, Veterans, and their beneficiaries by modernizing electronic health care records and establishing seamless medical data sharing between the DoD, the VA, and the private sector. DHMS is administratively attached to the Defense Health Agency (DHA), with a direct reporting relationship to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (USD AT&L).

The 10-year contract is one of the largest in recent memory for DOD and is expected to have a total lifecycle value of $11 billion.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/emerging-tech-blog/2015/07/pentagons-11-billion-health-records-deal-be-awarded-months-end/118078

For more information about DHMS, visit: http://www.health.mil/dhms

March 5, 2015 By AMK

Critics warn DOD’s EHR contract could mean ‘vendor lock and health data isolation’

A defense think tank says the government may regret its plan to lock the U.S. Defense Department into a 10-year contract with an electronic health-record vendor.

The Center for a New American Security released a report that sharply criticizes the department’s procurement process for a new EHR system, which is expected to cost $11 billion over the life of the contract and has attracted fierce competition among four bidding teams.

“DOD is about to procure another major electronic (health-record) system that may not be able to stay current with—or even lead—the state-of-the-art, or work well with parallel systems in the public or private sector,” warn authors, who include retired Gen. H. Hugh Shelton and former Veterans Affairs Chief Technology Officer Peter Levin.

“We are concerned that a process that chooses a single commercial ‘winner,’ closed and proprietary, will inevitably lead to vendor lock and health-data isolation,” they conclude.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20150213/NEWS/150219965/critics-warn-dods-ehr-contract-could-mean-vendor-lock-and-health

The Veterans Affairs Department will implement the same electronic health records platform as the Defense Department, according to an announcement today from Secretary David Shulkin.

Newly confirmed Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin promised last week his department would decide by July whether to move to a commercial health records system.

All signs point to the Defense Department awarding its multi-billion Defense Healthcare Management System (DHMS) contract by the end of July.

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