VA mHealth program to target clinician-patient interaction
A Mobile Health Provider Program being implemented by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is designed to leverage the power of mHealth to "transform the way clinicians and patients interact.”
The new program will be rolled out in two phases, according to an announcement. Mobile devices will be deployed to 18 VA Medical Centers for clinical use, and VA-developed apps will be made available on the mobile devices via the VA App Store.
Initially, the mobile devices will include VA email, a VA App Store with commercial mobile health apps that have passed VA security reviews and VPN capabilities to access information in the medical center as well as off-site.
During the second phase of the program, VA-developed apps will be available for download in the VA App Store. These apps were created "specifically with VA clinicians in mind." Developers considered these clinicians’ unique needs, and offer quick access to real-time information to inform clinical decisions and a series of health inventory apps for self-management. The goal is for the apps to eventually allow clinicians to write progress notes, enter a subset of orders and complete other clinical tasks.
If the program proves to be successful, the intention is to expand the effort to other VA sites over the next 18 to 24 months based on available funding and approval by VHA's Office for Health for Operations and Management.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.