VA shuts down EMR system to find a bug

The Department of Veterans Affairs has a problem with its electronic health record system, a problem that affects access to millions of patient records. The problem was so bad that the VA shut down its EMR system last week to work out a bug in the system.

The agency took the action after a clinician discovered incorrect prescription information for a patient in the VA's computerized patient record system.

The VA investigated the problem, but technicians were unable to correct the patient data. Meanwhile, VA engineers discovered another software flaw in the system that resulted in incomplete information on a patient's medical record. And engineers are having problems repairing this flaw, according to an article in InformationWeek.

In another VA headache, the department's inspector general launched a criminal investigation into a physician assistant's alleged downloading of clinical data at the VA's Atlanta medical center, according to an article in nextgov.com.

In one of the incidents, 18 years worth of data was downloaded. The number of patients involved was not disclosed.

For more:
- see this InformationWeek article
- read this nextgov.com article