VA & Pentagon fight over sharing; vets pay
The Stars & Stripes reports that the VA and the pentagon can’t come to an agreement on the information system that would allow them to seamlessly transfer veterans’ records – like the big immature babies that those agencies have become. DoD is shopping for a big wasteful POS system that doesn’t exist yet and the VA doesn’t want to lose theirs, so veterans are left holding the bag.
Earlier this month, secretaries from both departments announced they would provide shared medical records starting this year, but not a shared, identical system among agency health officials. Lawmakers and veterans advocates blasted that as reneging on the president’s promise of seamless, lifelong medical records for veterans.
Department officials insist that isn’t so.
“We are not moving away from a single, joint electronic health record,” VA assistant secretary for information Roger Baker told the committee. “What has changed is the strategy we will use to accomplish the goal.”
So, what they need is an administrator that will kick both agencies in the ass until they resolve their little selfish bullshit tantrums. But I don’t see Shinseki or Hagel being that guy. This is what happens when you put politicians in the position of an administrator. If I’m not mistaken, this was supposed to happen last year, and with a year grace period, they still haven’t taken the first step.
Category: Big Army, Veterans' Affairs Department
I would so, so, SO, love for the Lord to grant me authority to deal with the DoD and the VA.
I suspect that many would refer to it as The Nightmare In The Beltway and I would be known as Attila the Hun (aka the Scourge of God).
Shinseki has screwed the pooch so much at VA as it is, there is no way that guy can fix anything. Hell, even the new “Claims Processing System” his brain trust came up with actually caused the whole process to come to a screeching halt.
Instead of hiring more qualified individuals to handle the increased workload with the same system that once upon a time had a 3-6 month turn around time, Shinseki wanted to reinvent the wheel and many of us will be waiting for years before the VBA unfucks itself.
But they have this great goal to get the turn around time down to 3-4 months with their new system… what else can be said about that?
@2 Sadly, once Obamacare kills private enterprise every citizen will get to experience a similar joy….waiting months for some bureaucrat to figure out that you really are entitled to receive what you have earned….great.
THe VA is just waiting for all of us to die off.
It’s just further proof to me that we Vets are little more than second class throwaway peons to this administration, the one that considers multimillion dollar getaways for B. Hussein 0bama & Family a top priority with Legislators’ privileges and perks not far behind!
It just kills me when I read about government IT SNAFUs at any level, Colorado has had it’s share too.
I work in IT and have worked on and managed some very large projects that have completed successfully on time and within budget. Imagine if your bank or investment company was as incompetent as the VA or DoD (or any other government entity). People wouldn’t stand for it yet accept incompetence and inefficiency from government.
In my opinion, VA services should be privatized as much as possible, as well as most other government services, especially at the Federal level. Why not be able to take your assigned benefits and get care whenever and wherever you need to? However, I don’t have any hope that would happen or if it did, have decent oversight and budget management. It would soon be corrupted like anything else the government touches.
It’s actually a lot less complicated than that.
The whole thing could be put together in under a year, with data transfer operations to take another 2 years.
I’ve done this for the Army, and for another department. So I know this is not a technical issue, but a question of who will pay for it, and who will get the credit.
DoD hates veterans. Not just the VA, but all veterans.