VHA TriviaVHA Trivia

Prepared for the Internet2 Spring Member MeetingCrystal City, VA April, 2004Ken Rubin, EDSVHA Health Information Architect

VHA Profile

• Volume– Software portfolio: >140 applications

– Outpatient Visits: 47,323,015

• Access points and affiliations– 135 nursing homes

– 163 medical centers

– 817 outpatient clinics

– 104 out of 125 medical schools

• Inter-Organizational Concerns– 180,000 VHA employees– 85,000 health professionals trained annually

• 15k MDs, 30k nurses, and 1000 IT staff

– Chief Health Information Architects: 1

Business Takeaways

• The importance of scale cannot be overstated– “Everyday” solutions do not scale to support our

enterprise

• Implementation of a system is not limited to software development– Training burden is huge

– Administrative approach must allow for federation and distribution

– Response time/user performance is of utmost importance

Architectural Takeaways

• Architecture is pervasive

• Need exists to support every conceivable platform

• Technology can and will continue to change

• Budget is very limited – system longevity approaches or exceeds 20 years

• Data longevity must exceed 75 years

• Our future is hinged upon common services

• Authoritative sources are of paramount importance