The Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Information and Technology https://www.oit.va.gov recently published the report Driving Digital Transformation at VA, a FY20 Year in Review. OIT is focused on changing the way the agency procures services by taking a “buy first” approach to new systems, not build their own applications, and rely more on cloud, managed and shared services along with commercial off-the-shelf products.
Efforts are focused on improving data management, migrating to the cloud, improving cybersecurity, digitizing business processes, decommissioning outdated platforms, and recruiting and retaining a world class IT workforce.
To meet the needs required by COVID-19, OIT leveraged industry partnerships to provide innovative forward-facing telehealth technology solutions. OIT rapidly expanded VA’s Primary Telehealth System, (Video Connect) https://mobile.va.gov/app/va-video-connect by increasing visit capacity in order to stay ahead of unprecedented demand which has allow more clinicians and patients to conduct remote appointments simultaneously.
Also, OIT upgraded on-premises hardware, and in just five weeks, further expanded the system to the cloud (Care2 Cloud). Since the virus outbreak, the expanded system has supported a surge in demand for telehealth appointments and now frequently supports more than 38,000 daily telehealth visits in veterans’ homes or at other non-VA locations.
OIT in collaboration with the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) https://va.gov/health and Microsoft, have built a summary and tracking tool called the National Surveillance Tool to help the VHA gain better situational awareness for patients and the resources needed during the pandemic.
The National Surveillance Tool allows for the early detection and monitoring of cases, department-level biosurveillance, and emergency management at the national and local levels. Data feeds cover patient cases, available assets such as ventilators and masks, hospital capacity, and employee status.
Most data is updated hourly, so leaders are able to make timely and informed decisions as to when and where to cross level supplies of personnel. The system can even perform predictive analysis for information on future hotspots of COVID-19 cases.
The team also released the COVID-19 National Summary, https://accesstocare.va.gov, an external map that tracks and summarizes COVID-19 cases within the VA system. This system is the VA’s single authoritative source of COVID-19 confirmed cases at the facility level. Data is refreshed hourly which provides near real time numbers for veterans, Congress, states, media, and the public.
OIT has also deployed more than 50,000 telehealth kits, each containing a laptop, docking station, mouse, keyboard, webcam, headset, and two monitors to enable VHA clinicians to connect remotely with patients.
The VA’s goal throughout the pandemic has been to expand partnerships across VA, industry, and DOD, which has established a secure joint framework to enable monitoring, secure access control, and provide data sharing security standardization for the EHR modernization program.