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Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture

The Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) is an enterprise-wide information system built around an electronic health record, used throughout the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical system, known as the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

VistA was developed using the M or MUMPS language/database. The VA currently runs a majority of VistA systems on InterSystems Caché. VistA can also run on GT.M, an open source database engine for Linux and Unix computers. Although initially separate releases, publicly available VistA distributions are now often bundled with the database in an integrated package. This has considerably eased installation.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has had automated data processing systems within its medical facilities since before 1985,beginning with the Decentralized Hospital Computer Program (DHCP) information system, including extensive clinical and administrative capabilities. In 1995, DHCP was enshrined as a recipient of the Computerworld Smithsonian Award for best use of Information Technology in Medicine.

The most significant is a graphical user interface known as the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) for clinicians released in 1997.

By 2001, the VHA was the largest single medical system in the United States, providing care to 4 million veterans, employing 180,000 medical personnel and operating 163 hospitals, over 800 clinics and 135 nursing homes.[2] By providing electronic health records capability, VistA is thereby one of the most widely used EHRs in the world.

Reference

1. Department of Veterans Affairs: Veterans Health Administration 2. Brown, Stephen H. (2003). "VistA, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs national scale HIS". International Journal of Medical Informatics 69: 135-156, Bethesda, MD (USA). doi:10.1016/S1386-5056\(02\)00131-4) (inactive 22 June 2008).