Electronic records help VA boost reputation

Electronic records help VA boost reputation: "For years, the Department of Veterans Affairs� sprawling health care system was criticized by veterans groups and government investigators as a dangerous backwater of medicine. Report after report portrayed it as suffocating from top-heavy bureaucracy, dirty and unsafe hospitals, and little or no accountability. Thousands of eligible patients opted to get their care elsewhere. But in the past decade, largely unnoticed by the public, the system has undergone a dramatic transformation and now is considered by some to be a model. Researchers laud the VA for its use of electronic medical records, its focus on preventive care and its outstanding results. "