And the herd of sheep continues to march ever onward toward and over the edge of the cliff while a few "black sheep" continue to attempt, in vain, to get their attention to tell them that disaster lies ahead!
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 11:40 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [Hardhats-members] VA Aims To Build Congress' Faith In Tech Upgrade Taken from the National VA News Summary. http://vaww.newslink.va.gov/summary/2005/05-05-05.pdf TBO=Tampa Bay Online) TBO News, 5/4/05 VA Aims To Build Congress' Faith In Tech Upgrade By RICHARD LARDNER TAMPA - The largest hurdle facing a major computer upgrade at veterans hospitals nationwide is convincing a skeptical Congress that government managers can handle the job, according to officials involved with the project. The congressional concern stems from a recent critical review of the Veterans Affairs Department effort, called HealtheVet, and the failure last year of a less ambitious technology upgrade at Bay Pines VA Medical Center in St. Petersburg. ``We've had some failures,'' Robert McFarland, the VA's chief information officer, said Thursday. ``I would say that not only Congress but our stakeholders and some people inside the VA are very suspect of anything we start to do.'' When he took over as the VA's top technology official 14 months ago, the department lacked the management skills and oversight tools needed to handle a large modernization program, McFarland said. Those shortcomings were largely responsible for the troubles with the Core Financial and Logistics System. The VA was forced to terminate CoreFLS last year after it failed a ninemonth trial at Bay Pines. New procedures and staff have been brought in to address those problems, McFarland said. As a result, he is confident the technical challenges will be overcome. ``We got it,'' McFarland said of the need to reform the department's business practices. The VA has requested $311 million in the 2006 budget for HealtheVet. McFarland said he is not certain all the money will be provided until the VA's fiscal year 2006 appropriations bill is approved by Congress this year. The VA and McFarland got a vote of confidence last week from Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who called HealtheVet a work in progress. ``But it is a step in the right direction and should ultimately help veterans [have] better access to the VA health care system and, more importantly, help veterans have more control over their own health care,'' the senator said in a written statement. McFarland has the expertise ``to make this system work,'' Craig added. Old Versus New HealtheVet is expected to cost $2.2 billion through 2009, according to the VA. The project is aimed at replacing an existing patient record system known as VistA, which supports day-today operations at VA health care facilities. VistA is a solid system, but it's old, too expensive to maintain and based on proprietary technology, McFarland said. HealtheVet, he said, will be built on commercially available systems and therefore be able to interact with other platforms in the VA's inventory. ``We've reached the point where we have to redesign this,'' he said. ``It'll be much less costly in the long run, and performance will be better.'' Daily News Summary (Cont.) Page 31 of 61 To avoid the pitfalls that doomed CoreFLS, McFarland asked a federally funded research and development center at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to conduct a thorough assessment of HealtheVet, which is early in the planning stages. The harsh findings were delivered to the VA in February and indicated HealtheVet would meet the same fate as CoreFLS without key changes. The project was ill-defined and technologically risky, and it lacked strong program management, according to the report. ``The VA cannot stay with VistA, however, current plans are not realistic given the complexity and magnitude of [HealtheVet] and the VA's ability to carry them out,'' according to the report, which the VA provided to The Tampa Tribune. Paradoxically, McFarland said the harsh results were welcomed by the VA because they exposed the risks before the project was too far along. ``The idea was to have holes shot in that project plan by people who really understand how you manage large-scale projects,'' he said. The department didn't do that with CoreFLS and paid a heavy political price. Changing Plan ``For once the VA did it right,'' said McFarland, who spent 33 years in the commercial computer industry before coming to the VA. ``There is not a large-scale program in the private sector or the government sector that initially doesn't have lots of holes in it when you put it together.'' The VA has made significant adjustments in its HealtheVet strategy over the past three months, he said. If the issues raised by Carnegie Mellon are not adequately addressed, the VA won't move forward with the project, he said. However, McFarland doesn't see that happening. ``I think we have a handle on what we have to do,'' he said. Despite Sen. Craig's support, there is less confidence in the House of Representatives. Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Indiana, who is chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, has recommended withholding the $311 million for HealtheVet until questions about the proposed system are answered. The CoreFLS failure cost taxpayers nearly $272 million and caused major upheaval at the VA. Several high-ranking department officials in Washington and at Bay Pines resigned or were reassigned. In addition, the VA and the U.S. Justice Department have opened civil and criminal investigations to determine why the project fell apart and whether there was any criminal wrongdoing. McFarland acknowledged the repercussions of the failed project but said that doesn't weigh on him. HealtheVet is one of several major information technology projects his office is responsible for managing. ``Certainly it's one of our larger ones and we want to do it right, but we have a lot riding on all our projects,'' he said. Daily News Summary (Cont.) Page 32 of 61 Silva Royer, Florida commander of Disabled American Veterans, also hopes the VA gets it right. ``I'm just a little bit skeptical,'' she said of the HealtheVet plan. ``I think they need to do the research and make sure it's going to work this time.'' ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: NEC IT Guy Games. Get your fingers limbered up and give it your best shot. 4 great events, 4 opportunities to win big! Highest score wins.NEC IT Guy Games. Play to win an NEC 61 plasma display. Visit http://www.necitguy.com/?r=20 _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: NEC IT Guy Games. Get your fingers limbered up and give it your best shot. 4 great events, 4 opportunities to win big! Highest score wins.NEC IT Guy Games. Play to win an NEC 61 plasma display. Visit http://www.necitguy.com/?r=20 _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members
