Rx needed for VA's IT problems

There's a headache every day somewhere in the federal IT world. And this time, the Department of Veterans Affairs needs to take two aspirin and retool.

A report by the Inspector General finds that the VA did not plan sufficiently on a 2006 initiative to centralize VA's IT management, and that led to lax in management controls and oversight, according to an article in Government Health IT.

It's hard to imagine how difficult it is to get the VA's IT systems under control. It's a very big agency with lots of demands and needs from veterans who are patients in the system.

The culprit this time is a $167 million project to develop an automated system for scheduling patient appointments at VA health facilities. The IG said the VA had not developed a single scheduling capability it could field, according to the article. The VA also came under criticism for its management of HealtheVet, which will replace the it's longstanding electronic health record. The VA did not have a comprehensive project management plan for HealtheVet, according to the IG report.

For more on the VA's IT problems:
- check out this Government Health IT article