Veterans Affairs Department personnel wanting a mobile device such as an iPad for work must justify a business case for it, said VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker while speaking to reporters Oct. 26.

There isn't an assumed business case for one, Baker said, adding that the VA is planning for 100,000 tablet devices operating on iOS, Android, and Windows systems.

 The department released an Oct. 20 request for information in search of vendor feedback on an enterprise mobile device management solution that includes compliance enforcement, enterprise reporting and creation of a custom VA applications store. The VA already has an MDM for about 1,000 users; so far the VA collectively has fewer than 500 tablets operating on its network, Baker said.  

As the number of medical mobile apps increases, the business case for a mobile device will grow, Baker said, "Right now, in the initial stages, there aren't that many applications that would justify the business case for why a lot of users would have it," he added.

The 30,000 personnel already issued a VA laptop willing to trade in that machine for a tablet likely have a presumptive business case for one, Baker explained, since the department already made a decision to permit mobile access into the VA enterprise when it issued the laptop. Plus, tablets are cheaper to support than laptops.

"There's a $100 million business case for you right there. If we can reduce what we spend from an infrastructure standpoint and increase the functionality that users see, that in itself would be a business case," he said.  

Clinicians also have a business case, since when they travel from patient room to room, it makes sense for them to carry an access point to the VA electronic health record, rather than having to log on and off from fixed workstations, Baker said. (Some VA clinicians utilize laptops perched on a cart to access the VA EHR, known as VistA, but rolling the cart can also be a pain.)

Baker said he anticipates a "good mix" of mobile app development internally within the VA and from the private sector.

The "really interesting apps," Baker added, "are going to do something with the information that the open source EHR produces."

It would make sense for mobile apps that interact with the open source VistA to likewise be open source, Baker said. He added, though, that the department won't require private sector developers to be open source or deposit code with the VA custodial agent hired to oversee VA and joint-Defense Department EHR software.

Ideas for mobile apps include one that would tell doctors which patients they're in proximity to and have patient history automatically pop up. As television screens become more ubiquitous in patient rooms, an app might also automatically display for a patient the doctor's identity and his or her past appointments with the doctor, Baker said.

Mobile devices might also become a major piece of the VA's telehealth strategy, Baker added.

"The great thing about these devices is that whatever imagination I have about what could be done, our clinicians and folks around the country have a thousand to a million times more imagination about it," he added.

For more:
- listen to Baker's Oct. 26 press call

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