The Veterans Administration’s FY 2015 budget request for $163.9 billion is a 6.5 percent increase over FY 2014 with $3.9 million going to support modernized information systems. The budget request also includes $269 million for VistA Evolution and $57 million for VLER to develop the EHR system and to continue interoperability efforts with DOD.
The proposed budget would expand telehealth access with $567 million for telehealth up $23 million from 2014 to provide home health monitoring to veterans especially in rural and remote locations. Also, $86.6 million would improve customer service applications for online self-service portals and call center agent-assisted inquiries.
The proposed budget would implement the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) Transformation Plan to add a series of processes and technology initiatives in FY 2015. It is anticipated that this plan with $312 million would systematically reduce the backlog and enable the VA to eliminate disability claims backlog and process all claims within 125 days with 98 percent accuracy.