VA Gets Award for Health Records System

The Veterans Affairs Department, which in recent weeks has been riddled with security problems, was one of seven recipients of the annual Innovations in American Government Award.

The VA maintains computerized patient records for more than 5 million veterans who use its health care system. That permits health care providers at each of the VA’s 1,400 clinics to save time and money by getting full information without the need to run duplicative medical tests, organizers said.

For example, after Hurricane Katrina struck last fall, health care providers at VA facilities outside New Orleans were able to access prescription and other medical information for 40,000 veterans who had fled the Gulf Coast without their paper records.

“This program’s decentralized, flexible approach has made our veterans the recipients of the highest quality, lowest cost medical care in the country,” said Stephen Goldsmith, director of the award at Harvard’s Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation.

I do my inpatient work at the VA hospital. This award is well deserved. The EMR is outstanding, usable and time saving. I actually cared for a couple of Katrina evacuees, and the EMR made caring for them much easier.

Kudos!!