Ed Meagher, a former deputy assistant secretary and deputy CIO for VA, believes the coming move to a commercial EHR will, in fact, prompt VA clinicians to change the way they care for and treat veterans, but not for the better.
VistA was built for caregivers in mind, he said. But commercial EHRs are designed with insurance providers in mind, and Meagher said the move will force VA doctors to think more about documenting costs and less about caring for veterans.
“Any time you try to change someone’s business process — how they do their business the way they’ve been trained — you have a long, hard road ahead of you, a real bumpy road,” Meagher said.
But VA leaders must acknowledge that the department may risk losing talented health care professionals in order to win the data standardization debate.
Sourced through Scoop.it from: federalnewsradio.com
Ed Meagher, a former deputy assistant secretary and deputy CIO for Veterans Affairs “the move will force VA doctors to think more about documenting costs and less about caring for veterans.”
