Electronic healthcare has an article (paid subscription required) entitled: ‘Implementation of the Veterans Health Administration VistA Clinical Information System around the World’. The success story of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) within the US Department of Veterans Affairs has been well documented and is generally well known. What is generally not known is that the VHA’s clinical information system, known as VistA, and the computerized patient record system clinical user interface front end have been successfully transported and implemented to a number of non-VHA healthcare organizations across the United States. Moreover, VistA software modules have been installed, or are being considered for installation, in healthcare institutions around the world in countries such as Mexico, Finland, Jordan, Germany, Nigeria, Egypt, Malaysia, India, Brazil, Pakistan and Samoa.

Modern Health Care (registration required) Joseph Conn is reporting that: ‘Perot Systems, Plano, Texas, has been awarded a contract to install a version of the Veterans Health Administration healthcare information-technology system, VistA, at 46 hospitals and about 500 healthcare clinics in the Middle East nation of Jordan, according to several sources…’ Linux Medical News sources state however that the contract has not been signed yet and that it may be for some Jordanian hospitals, with the Jordanians themselves converting the rest.

WorldVistA held its 7th VistA Community Conference at Shepherd University June 27-29, 2008. Key note speakers included Dr. Kolodner, National Coordinator for Health IT, and Jessica Kahn, Medicaid Transformation Project Manager. Attendees included representatives from India, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, and many other public and private sector health care organizations across the U.S. More information about the conference, and presentations made can be found on the WorldVistA web site at www.worldvista.org . It is also recommended that individuals consider visiting the Shepherd University health IT web site at www.shepherd.edu/surc/cosi .

HealthBeatBlog has an article on the current Veterans Affairs VistA situation: ‘In the past I’ve spoken highly of VistA, the Veteran’s Administration computerized health records system—and with good reason. VistA has a lot going for it. In 2006, it won an “Innovations in American Government Award” from Harvard. Studies show that use of VistA has improved VA productivity by 6 percent a year since national implementation was achieved in 1999. In a time of sky rocketing health care costs, VA care has become 32 percent less expensive than it was in 1996 in part thanks to VistA. The computerized system also has helped the VA reach an amazing prescription accuracy rate of over 99.997 percent. And last—but certainly not least—VistA is a flexible program that allows for much independent tinkering in the name of improvement, both by techies outside of the VA and those within the administration.

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Informative and wide-ranging Veterans Affairs VistA software newsletter (PDF) for January-February 2008 has been published. ‘We have some major news related to VistA� as well as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to report in this issue. The news from the VA is rather significant and substantive so we have written a special In-Depth report on the subject, separate from the Commentary section…’

WorldVistA has been named a finalist in the Health category of the prestigious Stockholm Challenge.
“The Stockholm Challenge Award categories cover the most significant areas of social and economic life. They are selected to match the UN Millennium Development Goals and cover a wide spectrum of services and activities for people, communities and their environments.”

More information can be found here here
and here with an About the Stockholm Challenge here.

Thanks to Scott Shreeve, MD for this news (see his posting just before this one): One of the largest private sector deployments of the Veterans Affairs VistA software is in a 7 hospital system in Midland, Texas. They are now part of a super-elite group of only 9 hospitals that have received HIMSS Stage 6 Recognition: ‘…Stage 6 hospitals have achieved a significant advancement in their IT capabilities that positions them to successfully address many of the upcoming industry transformations we will be experiencing in the near future (e.g., HIPAA Claims Attachment, pay for performance, and government quality reporting programs).

Midland Memorial Hospital is recognized as one of 9 US Hospitals to achieve Stage 6 adoption of Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model.

In a story that received little recognition from the press, Midland Memorial Hospital was one of nine hospitals to achieve a level six of the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) established by HIMSS Analytics. Midland, of course, is most well known for being the first commercial hospital to implement the much recognized VistA Electronic Health Record. Having convinced Midland to purchase this system, and having assembled an incredible group of talented people to perform what many considered impossible, I think those involved should have a wonderful sense of pride and achievement. Equally important, was the foresight and leadership of David Whiles, Director of Information Systems, and his supportive Chief Executive Officer, Russell Meyers who took a chance on a unproven company with a very proven system.

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February 28 , 2008 – The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan announces the
release of a Request for Quotation (RFQ) for two pilot implementations
of the US Veterans Administration’s VistA in its public health system. A
key goal of the pilots is to determine the feasibility of leveraging
this proven, affordable, open source ICT solution to support continuous
health quality improvement, and to control and reduce costs. The Kingdom
of Jordan enjoys one of the highest standards of care in the region and
aims to build on this success through the establishment of an
effective, sustainable, integrated national healthcare ICT
infrastructure. Vendors interested in participating in this
ground-breaking initiative may obtain a copy of the RFQ, by sending an
email to the following address: HMIS “at” RHC “dot” JO, with the subject
line: RFQ Document Request – VistA Pilot. The body of the email should
state the name of the vendor, contact person, and telephone number. The
deadline for submitting a Letter of Intent to Bid is March 31, 2008. The
deadline for responding to the RFQ is April 12, 2008.

Medsphere and Tolven announced (article here) at the annual HIMSS show that they will form a new partnership to “Surround, Supplement, and Renew” VistA as a viable platform for forward thinking health care organizations. The announcement is loaded with buzz-words, but a close read implies that Medsphere is attempting to reach out to other providers to include them in their currently non-existent ecosystem.

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