What You Should Know:
– The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced its first go-live of the VA Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) program – launching the new Centralized Scheduling Solution (CSS) at the VA Central Ohio Healthcare System in Columbus, OH to make medical visits more efficient for care providers and Veterans.
– CSS streamlines patient scheduling by coordinating clinician availability and resources in a single system, allowing VA schedulers to identify and secure any resources needed in real-time as they make appointments, and enables Veterans to schedule and cancel their appointments online, making it easier to manage their medical appointments.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) launched a new appointment scheduling tool Aug. 21 at the VA Central Ohio Healthcare System to make medical visits more efficient for care providers and Veterans. The launch marks the VA’s first go-live of the VA Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) program.
A critical component of VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) effort, the Centralized Scheduling Solution (CSS) will be implemented at all VA health facilities to expedite patient-care coordination throughout the department.
VA’s current scheduling solutions require VA staff to log in to multiple software applications to coordinate calendars, clinicians, rooms, and equipment. This process requires time-intensive manual data entry and workarounds to finalize appointments. CSS streamlines patient scheduling by coordinating clinician availability and resources in a single system, allowing VA schedulers to identify and secure any resources needed in real-time as they make appointments, and enables Veterans to schedule and cancel their appointments online, making it easier to manage their medical appointments.
Cerner is leveraging innovation to ensure VA providers have the data and information needed to improve health outcomes for Veterans. In preparation for CSS go-live, Cerner successfully migrated and tested demographic information for 60,000 Veterans who receive care at the VA Central Ohio Healthcare System. CSS is a capability that will be included in VA’s new electronic health record (EHR). Following the CSS go-live in Columbus, VA will begin implementing the full EHR at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Washington this fall.
Why It Matters
This is a critical milestone in the project, bringing us one step closer to providing Service members and Veterans a lifetime of seamless care.
“VA has delivered an enhanced scheduling system that will benefit Veterans and health care providers,” said Acting VA Deputy Secretary Pamela Powers, who has oversight of VA’s EHRM program. “This is another successful launch of a major milestone in the EHRM effort and will optimize Veterans’ access to health care by improving appointment scheduling. CSS also provides an efficient and transparent method of identifying and eliminating double bookings, flagging canceled appointments and maximizing provider time spent with patients.”
