Health Records

Protect Patient Data During COVID-19 Outbreak, Federal Agencies Warn

The Defense Department, FBI and other agencies offer steps on how care facilities can secure personal health information.

  • By Mariam Baksh

IG: VA Knew Infrastructure Upgrades Wouldn’t Meet Timeline For March Health Records Rollout

Severe staffing shortages, infighting and lack of comprehensive planning for infrastructure improvements would have handicapped the multibillion-dollar project, the inspector general said.

  • By Aaron Boyd

VA and DOD Now Default to Sharing Patient Data with Private-Sector Providers

The joint electronic health records management office launched an information exchange program to make it easier to share patient data with thousands of “community partners.”

  • By Aaron Boyd

Lawmakers Push CDC for New Demographic Data on Coronavirus Patients

A group of 17 lawmakers asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to collect sex, race, ethnicity and other information to spot potential inequities in health care. 

  • By Brandi Vincent

VA Delays Major IT Programs to Focus on COVID-19

The initial rollout of the new electronic health records system will be pushed out—again—as well as pilots for the new scheduling system. A third, integral effort remains on track.

  • By Aaron Boyd

Defense Department Halts Health Records Rollout During COVID-19

The pause is in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

  • By Frank Konkel

New Federal Rules Will Pave the Way for Electronic Health Records on Smartphones

Officials said it’s part of a push to give Americans more control over their personal data. 

  • By Brandi Vincent

First Instance of VA’s New Electronic Health Record System Now Scheduled For July

VA officials said the initial deployment was delayed after clinicians asked to be trained on a full system instead of a minimum viable product.

  • By Aaron Boyd

IGs Announce Plan to Probe Joint DOD, VA Electronic Health Records Programs

The two inspector general offices are teaming up to determine whether the commercial EHR programs are meeting the main goal of interoperability.

  • By Aaron Boyd

Indian Health Service CIO Gets Ready to Update One of Government’s Oldest Systems

As chief information officer of the Indian Health Service, Mitchell Thornbrugh will play a critical role as the agency updates from a system that first debuted in 1969.

  • By Frank Konkel

VA’s Electronic Health Records System Won’t Make Its First Go-Live Deadline

Training was supposed to start this week ahead of deployment in March, but Veterans Affairs officials said that timeline has been pushed out.

  • By Aaron Boyd

The VA’s First Chief Innovation Officer Aims to Speed Up the Delivery of Cost-Saving Services

Michael Akinyele’s mission is to find ways to innovate health care delivery and scale it across the enterprise.

  • By Brandi Vincent

German Researchers Accessed Service Members’ Sensitive Medical Data—and One Lawmaker Wants Answers

Sen. Mark Warner wants to know what the Defense Health Agency is doing to secure “a significant number” of medical images.

  • By Brandi Vincent

Defense Officials Tout Smoother Electronic Health Records Rollout

The second deployment of MHS Genesis went “much, much smoother” than the first, as officials take lessons from both rollouts to 25 more bases this summer.

  • By Aaron Boyd

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The Tricky Ethics of Google's Project Nightingale Effort to Learn from Millions of Health Records

Big-data projects like this one should always be ethically scrutinized.

  • By Cason Schmit , The Conversation

VA Prepping for Go-Live of Health Records System in March

Veterans Affairs Department officials testified they’re continuing with plans to roll out their new electronic health record system in early 2020.

  • By Frank Konkel

Doctors Give Electronic Health Records an 'F'

Clunky systems may contribute to medical professionals' burnout.

  • By Fred Mamoun, Futurity

Can CBP Stand Up an Electronic Health Records System in 90 Days?

Lawmakers eager to see Customs and Border Protection digitize its health care system are pushing a bill that would give the agency three months to go from paper to electronic records.

  • By Aaron Boyd

Vets Can Now See VA, Private Sector Health Data in iPhone App

Apple’s Health app now integrates with Veterans Affairs’ patient data API, giving veterans access to their medical information on their phones.

  • By Aaron Boyd

Defense Health Agency Needs Help Consolidating Military’s Health IT Systems

The agency leading the Pentagon’s electronic health records transition is working on a global IT support contract. 

  • By Aaron Boyd

VA Launches VITAL Training Ahead of First Electronic Health Records Rollout

Veterans Affairs officials learned some lessons from their Defense Department counterparts and developed an immersive training program focused on how the new EHR system can fix issues clinicians encounter every day.

  • By Aaron Boyd