A cohort of 24 companies has agreed to join Cerner as it implements its EHR system for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The core group of seven businesses assisting the Kansas City, Missouri-based EHR vendor include AbleVets, Accenture, Guidehouse, Henry Schein, Leidos, MicroHealth and ProSource360.
Seventeen other organizations are considered premier partners in the process. They are:
- ACI Federal
- B3 Group
- Blue Sky Innovative Solutions
- Clarus Group
- Forward Thinking Innovations
- HCTec
- HRG Technologies
- KRM Associates
- Liberty IT Solutions
- MedicaSoft
- MedSys Group
- Holland Square Group
- PM Solutions
- Point Solutions Group
- Sharpe Medical Consulting
- Signature Performance
- Thomas Rile Strategies
A number of the businesses are owned by veterans, according to a Cerner news release.
“We have formed a world-class team that has the best interest of veterans at heart,” Travis Dalton, president of Cerner government services, said in a statement. “This is the beginning of a long transformational journey. We will continue to seek and bring the best talent available to the VA.”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
The VA inked a contract with Cerner in May to update its legacy electronic medical record system called VistA.
But lately, the path to modernization seems to have been rocky. In late August, Genevieve Morris, who served as interim chief health information officer for the Office of EHR Modernization at the VA, abruptly resigned from her position. On Twitter, she shared a bit of insight into her decision to step down, noting that the “VA’s leadership intends to take the EHR modernization effort in a different direction than we were headed.”
When reached via email in September, the VA said her departure would not delay or impact the EHR modernization timeline.
More recently, Politico reported the department has named IT specialist and physician Paul Tibbits to lead efforts by its Office of Information and Technology in support of the EHR modernization.
Photo Credit: DrAfter123, Getty Images
