Report: More states should tap into VA software for EMR adoption
West Virginia has created a paperless records system for its state-run hospitals and nursing homes by using an EMR system built by the Veterans Administration with taxpayer dollars, saving millions in software licensing fees charged by commercial software vendors, according to the Boston Globe.
The VA software, VistA, is open-source software--its code is freely available to the public and is constantly being improved by users--and includes features, such as a bar-coding system to track drug dispensations.
However, few U.S. hospitals have taken advantage of the software. Wealthier hospitals have opted to buy more expensive, custom systems from private vendors, while smaller and more rural hospitals often stick with paper records, according to the Globe.
"I would think there would be a tremendous opportunity for using this as a platform, particularly for smaller hospitals that have a real challenge in coming up with the money for EMRs," said William Weeks, MD, an associate professor at Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and VA psychiatrist in Vermont.
Phillip Longman, author of Best Care Anywhere, a book about the VA's quality of care, told the Globe that VistA is an unrecognized national resource.
"It's really insane that we have a fully developed health IT system that is bought and paid for and free to anybody who wants it and used widely around the world by other governments running their healthcare systems. . .and yet we don't have any take-up in the U.S., or not much to speak of," Longman said.
VistA was designed mainly for clinical use, not for billing--the VA gets most of its money from the government, not from insurance reimbursements. But billing components can be added on, the Globe reported.
John Halamka, MD, the chief information officer for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, which has a custom EMR system, called VistA "one piece of the puzzle," but cautioned that it was designed for large institutions with a single payor, suggesting it would not work well in small doctors' practices with a large array of payors.
The VA software, VistA, is open-source software--its code is freely available to the public and is constantly being improved by users--and includes features, such as a bar-coding system to track drug dispensations.
However, few U.S. hospitals have taken advantage of the software. Wealthier hospitals have opted to buy more expensive, custom systems from private vendors, while smaller and more rural hospitals often stick with paper records, according to the Globe.
"I would think there would be a tremendous opportunity for using this as a platform, particularly for smaller hospitals that have a real challenge in coming up with the money for EMRs," said William Weeks, MD, an associate professor at Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and VA psychiatrist in Vermont.
Phillip Longman, author of Best Care Anywhere, a book about the VA's quality of care, told the Globe that VistA is an unrecognized national resource.
"It's really insane that we have a fully developed health IT system that is bought and paid for and free to anybody who wants it and used widely around the world by other governments running their healthcare systems. . .and yet we don't have any take-up in the U.S., or not much to speak of," Longman said.
VistA was designed mainly for clinical use, not for billing--the VA gets most of its money from the government, not from insurance reimbursements. But billing components can be added on, the Globe reported.
John Halamka, MD, the chief information officer for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, which has a custom EMR system, called VistA "one piece of the puzzle," but cautioned that it was designed for large institutions with a single payor, suggesting it would not work well in small doctors' practices with a large array of payors.