Distributed Hospital Computer Program (DHCP)

The Distributed (Decentralized) Hosptial Computer Program (DHCP) was developed in 1983 out of the DM&S Computer-Assisted System Staff (CASS) office by a small number of support centers in the VA. The system had a common databases and a database system,using the American National Standard MUMPS, which was writen to be both hardware- and operating-system-independent. The CORE - the first set of applicatoins to be developed and installed - consisted of modules for patient registration, ADT, outpatient scheduling, laboratory, oupatient pharmacy, and inpatient pharmacy to support medical administration, mental health radiology and dietetics. Modules to support other clinical departments and administrative functions were developed subsequently. By 1985, the VA had installed DHCP in more than on-half of its hospitals and clinics and IN 1989 developed additional applications for dietetics, fiscal/supply, medical center management, medical records tracking, mental healthy, nursing, radiology and surgery (2).

In 1996 the DHCP system changed its name to VistaA as it evolved to included programming in Delphi. This rapid prototype technology with MUMPs foundation was readily adopted by many of the VA sites because it allowed local control over content as long as there was adherence to shared programming and a standard database.

Reference

http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/ota/Ota_3/DATA/1987/8710.PDF Int J Med Inform. 2003 Mar;69(2-3):135-56. VistA--U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs national-scale HIS. Brown SH, Lincoln MJ, Groen PJ, Kolodner RM.Department of Veterans Affairs, and Vanderbilt University, USA. steven.brown@med.va.gov