EXCLUSIVE: VA downplays risk assessment report
February 24, 2014 · 10:13 am A 2013 internal security risk assessment of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ main electronic health record system that warned a data breach was “practically unavoidable” did not take into account various security mitigation actions the department had already taken to address a very specific vulnerability, according to VA officials. The heavily redacted assessment of the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture, or VistA, first reported last week by CNBC and obtained by FedScoop, warned it was “practically unavoidable that a data breach to financial, medical and personal veteran and employee protected information may occur within the next 12 to 18 months.”
VA charts a course for open source, more capable infrastructure
February 19, 2014 · 7:00 am The Department of Veterans Affairs has taken its fair share of very public lumps as a result of high-profile data breaches and software glitches that sparked the ire of many in Congress. But behind the scenes, the agency has embarked upon an ambitious effort to overhaul how it manages its entire IT enterprise. In an effort to prepare the agency for an inevitable post-war drawdown of resources, Stephen Warren, VA’s chief information officer, is overseeing a concerted effort to modernize infrastructure and streamline contracting and acquisition processes to squeeze new efficiencies out of every dollar spent on technology. It is an endeavor that will touch almost every aspect of VA’s $243 million annual investment in voice, data and wireless technology, and could fundamentally alter the way VA interacts with industry and the veterans it serves.
Richard B. Radichel, deputy director, Systems Management Division, Dept. of Veterans Affairs (center) at the Adobe Digital Government Assembly, Feb. 6, 2014. (Photo: FedScoop)VA pushes forward on major digital forms initiatives
February 07, 2014 · 10:25 am For the Department of Veterans Affairs, good news on the information technology front can often seem like a rare commodity. The agency remains under investigation by Congress for a wide variety of security lapses, including the recent exposure of thousands of veterans records first reported by FedScoop. But there are signs of progress at VA, albeit progress tempered by a sense of frustration often concealed deep down in the details. VA is making progress on the digital forms front — the forms used by veterans for a multitude of purposes, including applying for health care benefits. What has until recently been predominantly a paper-based system is quickly moving to a fully digital process, with new initiatives, including mobile forms, on the horizon.
