President Joe Biden, current President of the United States, has signed The VA Electronic Health Record Transparency Act of 2021. The act was written last year, however, has only been passed in June 2022 in efforts to improve the rate of Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM).
U.S Department of Veteran Affairs (VA)
U.S Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) is an organization that aspires to bring adequate healthcare to army veterans who have represented the United States in warfare. The organization runs a health administration called Veteran’s Health Administration which is the current largest health care network in the United States. In addition to this, the Veterans Benefits Administration works to aid veterans in reintegrating to normal life in the country.
VA and the use of Electronic Health Records (EHR)
The VA Electronic Health Record Transparency Act of 2021 came about in the summer of 2021, because of released reports from an OIG audit which caused a delay of VA’s plans. The audit revealed VHA aspect of VA was not treating veterans with adequate care. The main findings of the audit were as follows:
- 6 of 7 individuals employed with VHA medical providers inaccurately entered non-VA medical information into EHRs.
- VHA locations did not carry required operations for the EHR integration of non-VA records.
- VHA community care staff did not necessarily receive adequate training from management. This is based off VHA regulations, which state seven days training, the monitoring of employee scanning without error must take place.
The act achieved legislation through unanimous voting in The Senate in May, after it passed The House of Representatives six month previous and has now been signed into law by President Biden in June. With the VA Electronic Health Record Transparency Act 2021 in place, a report must be submitted periodically by VA, outlining statistics of EHRM to ensure veterans are receiving sufficient attention. This should include how they are currently performing, any costs they have or plan to incur, and what they hope to achieve in the future. The VA must also submit quarterly reports of the costs of the EHRM program until ninety days after the implementation of it. It is hoped that with the passing of this act, EHRM project will be more transparent and efficient in its completion.
