The Washington Post looks at improvements at the Department of Veterans' Affairs, which seem to have its care quality ahead of Medicare and most private health plans, according to many commonly accepted measures of hospital quality. After years of problems, a modernization plan launched in the early 1990s appears to have paid off rather nicely.
What's behind the transformation? Insiders at the agency say it has a lot to do with electronic medical records, the technology which supporters in government say will revolutionize the healthcare system. This isn't much of a surprise for FierceHealthcare readers, who've been following the EMR story for the last six months. The Post looks at the ways VistA, the open-source EMR developed in-house by doctors and engineers, has changed the ways doctors deliver care at the VA.
- see this story from The Washington Post