Department of Veterans Affairs is rolling out several technology modernization efforts, from its EHR overhaul to new financial and human resources systems, to help alleviate almost $1 billion in technical debt, according to a Jan. 21 Federal News Network report.
VA is in the midst of modernization projects for its human resources systems, financial management business, medical logistics supply chain and EHR system.
The department is focusing on building and adopting entirely new systems that can handle VA's increasing desire to explore and introduce new technology, said Dominic Cussatt, VA's deputy chief information officer. Mr. Cussatt spoke about VA's IT modernization efforts at the AFCEA Bethesda Health IT Summit on Jan. 15 in Rockville, Md.
"We’re really looking at how to re-architect our network," Mr. Cussatt said. "As we do this modernization we don't want to replace, we want to improve."
The department is also working to transfer about half of its applications and systems to its enterprise cloud; by 2024, VA expects to move about 350 apps and systems total.