In this Government Health IT article, the VA's CTO Peter Levin reveals plans for the 'next generation' VistA:
The Veterans Affairs Department is at work on the next-generation of VistA, its 20-plus year-old electronic medical record system, which is often praised by users but considered a headache to planners working to bring VA health systems fully into the Internet age.
Unfortunately this is not a new concept within the VA. This has been attempted at varying levels before. Additionally it seems strangely premature. We know the new VA leadership is moving fast to turn around aging infrastructure and other halted projects. But, we also know they have engaged an industry advisor group requesting recommendations on modernizing VistA from outside experts. That report is not yet available, so a 'decision' of this magnitude doesn't seem to make much sense.
The real answer will be in their budget -- did anything like 'Aviva' get funding?
There is some good news here though. It appears that everyone in government health delivery organizations is heading in the same direction -- right now they are on different roads, but at least there is agreement on the destination.
“All we really care about is data interoperability or data interoperability first,” Levin said. “We can exchange business rules later. If we can have some kind of convergence of the user layer, that’s great. But right now I am focused on data.”
Ultimately, VA wants to segment the kaleidoscope of data, business rules and lines of MUMPS code into a presentation layer “that protects the user from changes that take place behind the curtain.”
In making it interoperable, Levin said, VA would “segregate the presentation layer of VistA and attach it to the nationwide health information network.”
The key takeaways are around architecture decisions:
- Separating the currently entangled data, business and presentation tiers is step one to modernization
- Convergence of functionality from Indian Health Services' RPMS and Veteran Affairs VistA
You can read the entire article online.
