Department of Veterans Affairs

Microsoft To Drive A More Efficient VA Through Big Data

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The Department of Veterans Affairs recently committed to a continued partnership with Microsoft Corp. to use emerging tools and technologies to harness the power of big data and drive efficiency, mobility and better service.

Spanning from the desktop to the data center and mobile devices, the renewed agreement will allow the VA to analyze big data the department has been unable to evaluate in the past. It also means continued investment in a groundbreaking data warehousing/big data analytics initiative. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 16, 2012 at 12:00 PM

Mobile Milestones: Blue-Button Health Data For The Masses

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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is trying to do for the public what the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) did for veterans by building on the VA’s popular “Blue Button” application, allowing patients to get their medical records electronically on their mobile devices.

The “Blue Button” mashup challenge will be designed to bring “health information to the masses,” said Farzad Mostashari, MD, the national health information technology coordinator. It will allow anyone whose doctor keeps computerized records to get those records on mobile devices like phones, tablets and laptops. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 10, 2012 at 12:44 PM

VA’s Paperless Systems A Roadmap For Other Agencies

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The Department of Veterans Affairs has unleashed myriad technology tools and new management processes to cut a backlog of disability claims and speed benefits delivery that could be a roadmap for every federal agency transitioning to paperless systems.

With the help of smart technology and online self-service access, 1.67 million veterans have registered for the secure VA-Department of Defense web portal, a 400 percent increase in just one year, the Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 24, 2012 at 9:00 AM

GAO Finds Costly IT Delays At Federal Health Center

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While officials are making progress implementing upgrades at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center (FHCC), a GAO report has cited costly IT delays for the VA and DoD.

Despite an investment of more than $122 million for IT capabilities at the FHCC (pictured above), the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense have not completed work on all components required by an Executive Agreement, which were to have been in place in time for the FHCC’s opening in October 2010. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 27, 2012 at 4:31 PM

Feds@Work: A VA Medical System More Responsive To Women

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This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Career Achievement Medal, Patricia Hayes, chief consultant, Chief Consultant, Women Veterans Health Strategic Health Care Group at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C.

After more than two decades as an outspoken advocate for improving health care for female veterans, Patricia Hayes is now leading an ambitious Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) initiative to make the male-dominated medical system more responsive to the growing number of women who have served in the military. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 21, 2012 at 7:00 AM

VA Bets On iPad Pilot To Track Veteran Care

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The Department of Veterans Affairs is turning iPad technology into a potent tool to help caregivers track medical care for veterans that could become the road map for how to provide mobile services across the federal government.

The iPad pilot goes live Sept. 1 with a plan to loan 1,000 Apple Inc.’s iPads to caregivers keeping watch over medical needs for veterans injured while serving after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 7, 2012 at 3:00 PM

Health Datapalooza: A Model Of Innovation

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Some of the “Rock Stars” of Health Innovation at the “Health Datapalooza”, more formally known as the Health Data Initiative Forum III, have been in town this week for the June 5-6 event at the Washington, DC, Convention Center.

Special Guest Jon Bon Jovi, world-famous musician, appeared in connection with the Project REACH Mobile App Challenge. And a number of U.S. Government’s leading proponents of innovation were on the billing, not all of whom would have thought of themselves as rock stars before this event, including Todd Park, U.S. chief technology officer; Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services; W. Scott Gould, deputy secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs; as well as Mitch Kapor, Partner, Kapor Capitol and Bill Frist, physician and former U.S. Senate majority leader.

Gould in particular was there to talk about Project REACH – a Real-time Electronic Access for Caregivers and the Homeless (REACH). Simply put, the goal of Project REACH is to provide a free, broadly accessible app that produces real or near real-time information on where someone can find a bed, a place to eat, or seek medical services.

Keep reading →

 /  Published June 6, 2012 at 9:02 AM

Agencies Looking Beyond Device Management In Mobile Strategies

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When Roger Baker, the chief information officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs, looks at the challenge of managing mobile technology, he sees more than the task of moving data securely to the tablets and smartphones used by the department’s nearly 280,000 doctors and employees.

Sounding more like a brand manager than a CIO, Baker said that the bigger challenge is managing the department’s mobile applications – and more specifically, the experience veterans and employees encounter when they use them. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 5, 2012 at 10:45 AM

A Different Approach: Doing More (Work) With More (Talent)

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Recognizing the importance of small businesses to the government IT community, ACT-IAC sponsored the 6th annual Small Business Conference called ConnectSB: Accelerate and Achive earlier this week. The event focused on the unique needs and benefits of small businesses and also tried to promote the value of small businesses to the government and large corporations seeking small business partners.


A frequent theme of government conferences like these is innovation, which has come to mean doing more (work) with less (federal employees).

But I decided what this conference should actually be called is “doing more (work) with more (talent).”

The idea for the suggestion came during the federal agency workshops part of the conference where attendees got to hear from three of nine leading agencies. I elected to listen to the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security – ICE , and Department of Veterans Affairs. During those sessions individuals from the CIO office, the program office, the acquisition office and the small business office, provided a panel that presented their experience and then answered questions.

Keep reading →

 /  Published May 9, 2012 at 4:49 PM

The Many Dimensions of Innovation in Government

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This is the fifth in a series of profiles of innovative leaders in government based on interviews for the book Paths to Making a Difference: Leading in Government by Paul R. Lawrence and Mark A. Abramson. The book highlights the management lessons of 24 political executives during their first two years in the Obama administration. Marc Andersen collaborated with them on this article.

Innovation is an important topic. All organizations want to do more of it, including the federal government. Like the proverbial elephant, everybody has a slightly different take on innovation and what it looks like. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 9, 2012 at 1:58 PM
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