Related Post
The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee has advanced former Congressman Douglas Collins, R-Georgia, by a vote of 18-1 and will now advance to the full Senate, according to an announcement Thursday from U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, R-Kansas.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Collins said he would address the VA’s challenges, including the interoperability of veterans’ health records and making the transition back to civilian life as safe and smooth as possible for veterans’ mental health.
WHY IT MATTERS
Nothing is going to hold up the MISSION Act, a legacy of the previous Trump Administration, Collins told Moran after reading his written testimony.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, then asked Collins for several commitments related to funding veterans benefits and investments in VA provider facilities, which he gave.
The third item on the list was about veterans’ access to care. Senator Tim Sheehy, R-Montana, asked about improving the transition from active duty to the VA and access to community care – and specifically, porting over their medical records.
Collins acknowledged that transferring records from the VA to healthcare providers outside the system has been a roadblock to smooth transitions to community care that is more convenient for rural veterans.
The EHR modernization program is one example of the VA itself “standing in the way” of veterans’ access to care, he said Tuesday.
“That is a program that has went too many years and cost too many billions of dollars without finding a solution,” he said at the hearing. “And my commitment is one of the very first priorities, if confirmed, is to get in and figure out why and put this on a bigger timeframe to get this medical health records issue solved.”
The beleaguered state of the VA’s EHR, with six facilities on the new Oracle system, has left “uncertainty for the veteran, that leaves uncertainty for the family and makes a very unhealthy experience for those that are serving,” Collins said.
When Moran announced that Collins’s nomination would advance to a full Senate vote, he praised the former Congressman and veteran for his firsthand knowledge.
“During his hearing before the committee, he demonstrated his understanding of the policies he will be expected to administer at the Department of Veterans Affairs and his care and respect for our nation’s heroes,” said Moran.
“If confirmed, I will hold him to his commitment to work with our committee to implement critical reforms at VA to better support our nation’s veterans and their families.”
THE LARGER TREND
Last month, the VA announced that it had improved veteran trust and clinician satisfaction during the EHR Modernization program reset and would soon resume system deployments.
It’s been more than 18 months since lawmakers charged the agency with making critical improvements to patient safety at five VA health systems using the new EHR. Following a series of outages and incidents of patient harm, the VA’s Office of Inspector General has investigated system flaws and recommended more than 70 changes.
In November, Trump tapped Collins to head the VA saying that he would be an advocate for veterans care and support.
“Doug is a Veteran himself, who currently serves our Nation as a Chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command, and fought for our Country in the Iraq War,” Trump noted.
ON THE RECORD
“We will not shy away from challenges like homelessness and suicide prevention, electronic health record modernization and shrinking the department’s claims backlog,” Collins said in his written testimony.
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
