VA’s VistA problem; Decade Two of the gov’s IT transformation; the GAO examines the TSP

This program is sponsored by Denodo.

The Department of Veterans Affairs says it will rely on its VistA electronic health record system for another five to ten years. VA officials outlined their plan for maintaining VistA at a hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Technology Modernization subcommittee Tuesday. Roger Baker, consultant at Roger Baker Consulting, former Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and Chief Information Officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and former advisory board member for Cerner, was a witness at the hearing. He tells me what he sees moving forward for maintaining VistA, and transitioning to a new system.

The E-Gov Act is 20 years old now. Six of the seven former Federal Chief Information Officers and E-Gov Administrators gathered recently for an exclusive conversation about the past, present, and future of federal I-T. That hour-long conversation is available exclusively at FedGovToday.com, featuring Mark Forman, Karen Evans, Steve VanRoekel, Tony Scott, Suzette Kent, and the current Federal CIO, Clare Martorana. This special presentation is sponsored by Denodo. In today’s highlight, Steve VanRoekel says the I-T transformation concepts the government is working on aren’t new, and Suzette Kent tells me why she thinks what you call things matters.

The Government Accountability Office will examine the Thrift Savings Plan’s transition to its new recordkeeping system. The Thrift Savings Plan says operation of the Converge system is improving. Kim Weaver, Director of External Affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, explains the metrics the TSP is using to measure improvement for Converge.