{"id":58637,"date":"2019-07-30T20:43:13","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T20:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/07\/30\/va-failed-to-reliably-track-spending-on-electronic-health-record-system\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:48:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:48:58","slug":"va-failed-to-reliably-track-spending-on-electronic-health-record-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/veterans\/2019\/07\/30\/va-failed-to-reliably-track-spending-on-electronic-health-record-system\/","title":{"rendered":"VA failed to reliably track spending on electronic health record system"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The Department of Veteran Affairs says it spent $2.3 billion on its electronic health record system from fiscal 2015 through 2017, but the Government Accountability Office said it found only $1 billion of the spending to be \u201csufficiently reliable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to a new report by the Congress\u2019 watchdog agency, the VA didn\u2019t follow \u201ca well-documented methodology\u201d to determine what costs were actually related to the system, called VistA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cVA\u2019s total does not accurately reflect the development and sustainment costs for VistA,\u201d the GAO report wrote. It warned that VA\u2019s failure to keep track of its spending on VistA means \u201cthe department, legislators and the public do not have the comprehensive, reliable information needed to understand how much it actually cost to develop and maintain the system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2019\/02\/05\/senators-skeptical-over-long-term-va-health-records-overhaul\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3975154.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Senators skeptical over long-term VA health records overhaul<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The $16-billion, 10-year plan is designed to bring VA medical records in line with Defense Department files.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The GAO concluded that records for $1.3 billion that the VA spent on VistA\u2019s infrastructure, its related software and personnel were either not accurate, not well-documented, not credible or not comprehensive. It also pointed out that VA omitted VistA-related costs on additional hosting, and data standardization and testing from the total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 36-year-old VistA \u2014 formally known as the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture \u2014 contains electronic health records for patients, support clinics and medical centers, and also has other functions such as library and billing systems. The VA relies on it to provide health care services to approximately 9 million veterans and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carol Harris, director of information technology acquisition management at GAO, said in a Thursday hearing that VA\u2019s actual spending on VistA \u201cis likely to be more than the $2.3 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, the VA told GAO investigators last June that the cost on additional hosting was about $238 million per year. But shortly after that, the agency said the cost was actually $950 million. In the end, VA reported zero dollars for additional hosting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Harris said the VA\u2019s subject matter expert agreed that $950 million was \u201coff-base.\u201d But \u201cthe fact that the additional hosting line item was not included in the $2.3 billion estimate suggests that the number is higher,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When asked by lawmakers on Thursday about why the VA failed to implement the cost-tracking methodology \u2014 called the Technology Business Management framework \u2014 Paul Tibbits, executive director of technical integration in the VA\u2019s Information and Technology Office, said, \u201cthis methodology is relatively new. \u2026 Some of the methodology we have used, for example on the personnel cost, we\u2019ve not up to now seen the need to classify personnel cost by system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe will be, in the future, consistent with the TBM framework,\u201d Harris added.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2019\/06\/12\/can-a-new-office-foster-health-record-cooperation-in-time\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Health-IT-Cropped.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Can a new office make health records compatible in time?<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs have plans for a new office to facilitate cooperation in the roll out of their electronic health record systems.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">VA\u2019s loose cost-tracking record on VistA also casts doubt on its 10-year, $10 billion migration to the commercial electronic health record system Cerner and its estimate on the cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tibbits told lawmakers that the VA estimates the minimum cost to sustain VistA over the transition period is $4.98 billion, which takes up almost half of its $10 billion budget cap for the whole process announced in May 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cUntil the new electronic health record solution is implemented across the VA enterprise, VistA remains VA\u2019s authoritative source of veteran data,\u201d he said. \u201cSustaining VistA for the duration of the electronic health record modernization ensures that VA continues to provide uninterrupted care and services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his testimony, Tibbits also said that VA officials are developing a methodology to reliably identify and report the total costs of VistA sustainment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Veteran Affairs says it spent $2.3 billion on its electronic health record system from fiscal 2015 through 2017, but the Government Accountability Office said it found only $1 billion of the spending to be \u201csufficiently reliable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":74210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,12,25,68,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[6434],"class_list":["post-58637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"RY2E4VZ6R5DRNH62XLYT25IOMY","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2019\/07\/30\/va-failed-to-reliably-track-spending-on-electronic-health-record-system\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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