The Department of Veterans Affairs is standardizing its appointment scheduling system by rolling out a new solution based on Cerner.
Schedulers like many aspects of the Cerner system, including its “user-friendly interface and ease of scheduling telehealth appointments,” according to the VA Inspector General report New Patient Scheduling System Needs Improvement as VA Expands Its Implementation. However, it’s also clear that challenges remain as the new system requires significant training and continued improvements.
The VA’s Deputy Assistant Inspector General Leigh Ann Searight recently spoke on a podcast with Federal Drive hosted by Tom Temin about the audit findings.
Anyone who has rolled out any complex system at a large (or small) organization can appreciate the challenges. The VA is a large and high-profile federal agency, so it’s especially helpful to any of us in business, government, or non-profit organizations to hear about the “lessons learned” to apply to our own situations.
In the interview, Ms. Searight talks about the complexity of “going from a legacy system that’s been around” to “completely changing processes” and the significant learning curve for the staff. The crux of the interview is how what seems like a “simple process” of appointment scheduling is in fact a many-layered, complex workflow, and the ultimate success relies as much on training as technology.
VA’s electronic health record system for scheduling patients requires training
