Northern Virginia Technology Council Member Companies to Assess Scheduling Processes and Systems at VA Medical Centers
HERNDON, Va. (PRWEB) September 16, 2014 -- The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) announced today that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has accepted the organization’s pro bono offer to examine and propose improvements to the scheduling processes and systems at VA medical facilities. This effort stems from revelations of falsified scheduling records and severe treatment delays at VA health facilities across the country. In June, Sen. Mark Warner sent a letter to President Obama offering pro bono private sector assistance to address the current IT and workflow challenges at the VA and the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, passed by Congress and signed into law in August, included a requirement for the VA to use a technology task force to conduct a review of the needs of the Department of Veterans Affairs with respect to its scheduling system.
Since the legislation’s passage, NVTC and Sen. Warner have been working with the VA to design a plan for a team of NVTC member companies to evaluate the VA’s processes and systems and recommend improvements. With an agreement finalized, the NVTC team will begin the assessment project this week. The NVTC effort is being led by five member companies, which have volunteered their pro bono assistance on the project: Booz Allen Hamilton; HP; IBM; the MITRE Corporation; and SAIC.
“NVTC’s member companies are committed to supporting our nation’s veterans. Many of them were founded by and employ thousands of veterans,” said Bobbie Kilberg, President and CEO, NVTC. “We applaud Senator Warner for his leadership and look forward to working with the VA on this collaborative pro bono effort to help assess and make recommendations to improve its scheduling challenges.”
The NVTC effort builds upon a template established in 2010-11, when NVTC, at the request of Sen. Warner, partnered with the U.S. Army to help address the serious technology and business process problems at Arlington National Cemetery. An NVTC team, led by Booz Allen Hamilton, the MITRE Corporation and SAIC, worked with Cemetery officials to produce a comprehensive report, which combined a thorough review of best practices with on-site observations of cemetery operations and processes to make recommendations to address immediate challenges, optimize operations and facilitate long-term excellence at Arlington National Cemetery.
“I applaud NVTC and their member companies for stepping up to help provide private-sector expertise to help the VA improve the delivery of services to our military veterans,” Senator Warner said. “I am grateful to NVTC for their leadership in working with the VA to endorse this pro bono offer from a team of IT professionals committed to helping the VA improve its processes.”
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The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) is the membership and trade association for the technology community in Northern Virginia. As the largest technology council in the nation, NVTC serves about 1,000 companies from all sectors of the technology industry, as well as service providers, universities, foreign embassies, nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies. Through its member companies, NVTC represents about 300,000 employees in the region. NVTC is recognized as the nation's leader in providing its technology community with networking and educational events; specialized services and benefits; public policy advocacy; branding of its region as a major global technology center; initiatives in targeted business sectors and in the international, entrepreneurship, workforce and education arenas; the NVTC Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity that supports the NVTC Veterans Employment Initiative and other priorities within Virginia's technology community; the Equal Footing Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity that serves local area youth; and The Entrepreneur Center @NVTC, which mentors new technology entrepreneurs. Visit NVTC at http://www.nvtc.org.
Allison Gilmore, Northern Virginia Technology Council, http://www.nvtc.org/, +1 (703) 946-0318, [email protected]
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