October 18, 2005
Contact: Jeff Schrade (202)224-9093

(Washington, DC) A plan which calls for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to spend $2.1 billion on computers, software and information technology upgrades during the 2006 fiscal year is coming under scrutiny by a U.S. Senate committee.

On Thursday, October 20, the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs will hold a hearing titled, "VA's IT Management - Is it Ready for the 21st Century?" The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in room 418 of the Russell Senate Office Building. It will be audiocast live and archived on the committee's website at http://veterans.senate.gov, and may also be audiocast ? during the hearing only ? on C-SPAN's hearings website, located at http://www.capitolhearings.org.

The VA was recently praised in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina for its electronic medical records system. Unlike paper records which were destroyed in the flooding, the VA's electronic system easily allowed VA doctors to have access to the records of displaced VA medical patients. The VA's record system has been so-well thought of that earlier this year officials within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced they would distribute to non-government doctors and hospitals, scaled-down versions of software developed for and used by the VA for use in its hospitals and clinics.

But while the VA has had its successes with information technology, it has also taken some hits. In the past ten years the VA has spent approximately $600 million on a yet-to-be implemented compensation and pension claims-processing system, and $342 million on a failed financial management system.