The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has pushed hard to incorporate technology into its health system, and its app store is showing significant progress.
Since the scandal of long wait times leading to the deaths of as many as 40 veterans, the VA has made an effort to overhaul its health system, including the implementation of an app store with a dozen apps. As of March 2015, the apps have been downloaded by more than 300,000 users. The department also distributed more than 10,000 tablets to clinicians nationwide, according to the Washington Post.
However, the department is approaching the technology carefully. Many of the apps cannot yet access the agency's EHR database, focusing on providing consumers with general advice instead. The apps will be updated when the Department of Defense selects a new EHR provider later this year.
"The reality of being the largest integrated health-care system in the country means that making progress is a huge undertaking," Julia Hoffman, VA's national director of mobile health, told the Washington Post.