VA's electronic health record system to be updated

Bloomberg: Veterans Agency to Deploy Open Source Electronic Health Records
The Veterans Affairs Department, which operates one of the largest medical systems in the world, is moving ahead with plans to modernize its electronic health- records using open-source software. ... U.S. hospitals and medical practices are preparing to digitize their health records, often using commercial products. ... The department's electronic health-records system is used in 153 VA hospitals and more than 800 outpatient clinics in the U.S. It also is used by the Indian Health Service and more than 50 other hospitals globally, the agency said. [Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric] Shinseki said the Defense Department understands the capabilities of its existing electronic health records system, known as Ahlta, "are not going to be what they need in the future, so they're looking for a new direction" (Engleman, 4/1).

---

This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.