title: VistA--U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs national-scale HIS.
abstract: The Veterans Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has a long, successful, and interesting history of using information technology to meet its mission. Each medical center is computerized to a degree that surprises the uninitiated. For example, medical documentation and ordering are computerized at every facility. A sophisticated national infrastructure has been developed to replicate, support, and evolve single-center successes. With advances in inter-facility networking, data sharing, and specialized central support and technical tools, VistA is becoming a single, highly scalable national health information system (HIS) solution. In this paper, we present an historical overview of VistA's development, describe its current functionality, and discuss its emergence as a national-scale hospital information system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterans Affairs, and Vanderbilt University, USA. steven.brown@med.va.gov
authors.forename: Steven H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Lincoln
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Groen
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Kolodner
mesh_terms: D005568:Forms and Records Control; D006751:Hospital Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D018511:Systems Integration; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs