Calif. wasted $28M on VA healthcare system's IT

The California Department of Veterans Affairs has poured nearly $28 million in improvement efforts into its healthcare system, but the failing program still does not comply with state and federal regulations, according to a state audit.

The state's VA healthcare system, called CalVet, spent $27.9 million on a project to renovate the IT system at its eight veterans' homes that provide rehabilitation and residential care to more than 2,300 California veterans. The "Enterprise-wide Veterans Home Information System" was designed to improve the quality and efficiency of veterans' healthcare by eliminating paper records and streamlining electronic information. The program was supposed to be complete in 2010, but a series of planning and contract issues delayed its implementation until June 2013. Problems with the program began almost immediately, and the renovated system has failed to meet verterans' needs, according to the audit.

"Due to poor planning and inadequate project oversight, CalVet spent nearly $28 million and has not achieved a key project objective — a fully integrated system of care that improves efficiency, quality and consistency of care to veterans," the audit states, according to AllGov.com.

With the new IT system, tasks such as filling prescriptions and checking in new residents took twice as long as the prior system, the audit found. "Staff also reported that some system functions would regularly freeze or lock up during use. In one extreme instance, the entire system was down for more than a week at the end of August and beginning of September 2013," said State Auditor Elaine Howle, according to the report.

Although staff began reporting complaints with the system immediately after it went live, CalVet's management did not begin addressing them for nearly 18 months. Unable to find a permanent solution, CalVet has continued using the problematic software but hopes to have a replacement program identified by September and implemented by 2017, according to the report.

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