News From the Cause
Info Technology Key To Improving VA Services (MILITARY TIMES 24 JUL 09)
August 02, 2009
By Rick Maze
The chief information officer of the Veterans Affairs Department said he understands why veterans are skeptical about the power of computers to tame bureaucracy, but he believes VA is close to landmark improvements in customer service.
Roger Baker, who became VA’s information technology chief in May, said all veterans need to do to understand how computerized records can improve services is look at the successful electronic medical health records system, VistA. Medical treatment records are immediately available across the VA system and are being used to improve future care, Baker said in a Friday interview.
An example, he said, is that VA now can dig into records — known in IT circles as “data mining” — to look at people with similar health problems and compare their treatments and outcomes. This has turned up findings like the seasonal nature of hypertension, leading to a recommendation for doctors to pay special attention in autumn to the potential for that condition among patients.
“For all we know, our records hold the cure to cancer,” Baker said. He has high hopes that VA will be able to do the same thing with benefits records, so that the piles of paper 6 to 9 inches thick that accumulate for some veterans’ disability compensation claims can be replaced with computerized records that can be searched and shared.
Automated records are the key to eliminating the backlog of benefits claims, he said. It also will help VA ensure veterans are being treated fairly by allowing the agency to compare disability ratings given to different veterans with similar disabilities. A fully automated claims system is one of VA’s top priorities, Baker said, adding that VA Secretary Eric Shinseki is pushing the hardest.
With Shinseki, “any answer that doesn’t include ‘yes sir’ is not acceptable” when it comes to automating records, Baker said. Two other medical technology goals also could result in big improvements for veterans.
One is the expansion of telemedicine to provide treatment for vets in rural areas. Some pilot projects are already under way: Veterans who live far from VA hospitals and clinics can keep some appointments using video conferencing, Baker said. The chief obstacle to expanding the test is getting the bandwidth; the video must be high-quality for a doctor to make a diagnosis.
Another potentially big leap —one that may still be far off — would link the health care and benefits records systems so that a veteran who sees a doctor for a new medical problem could automatically have a claim filed for benefits without have to start from scratch.
“Imagine ... if, two weeks after they visited a doctor for a knee problem, they got a letter telling them they will get a few more dollars in their disability check,” Baker said.
