Faster Care for Veterans Act of 2016
In accordance with the Faster Care for Veterans Act of 2016, VA met aggressive acquisition milestones and piloted a commercial off-the-shelf patient self-scheduling appointment system, accessible through the devices Veterans use today, such as their smartphones.
VA implemented three pilot sites in December 2017 to determine the impact of the Veterans Self-scheduling System — primarily its ability to improve Veteran access and timeliness of services.
VistA Scheduling Enhancements (VSE)
VSE provides users with a resource management dashboard, an aggregated clinical schedule, and a single queue of request lists. This functionality enhances VA’s ability to use provider resources, reduce no-shows, limit the loss of information, and provide critical administrative support to Veterans. Veterans see an improvement in coordination of care that meets their needs for multiple appointments more efficiently. As of September 2017, VSE is deployed at 158 sites.
“VA is making critical improvements to Veteran health care, and will always look to leverage innovative tools that will put more capabilities in the hands of Veterans. Self-scheduling apps are widely used in the private sector and will help create a better experience for Veterans and their medical-care providers.”Secretary Shulkin
