Noteboom The Law Firm

VA Moving Into The World Of Electronic Records

March 17, 2011 - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is continuing to their efforts toward automating their disability compensation claims records. Not only will veterans be granted electronic access to their own medical records and health history through the Blue Button, automated and paperless claims will likely ultimately give rise to faster processing. Last year the Blue Button did not exist. This year 185,000 veterans and soldiers use it to download their medical records. 

Additionally, the VA coupled with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as well as the Department of Defense (DoD). The goal of this partnership is to grant Blue Button access to the beneficiaries of all these agencies, which totals approximately 8 million people.

To the federal government, files are of the utmost importance. Without them, there is no direction for what must be done. Because of this, the VA has been transferring all its personnel records from paper form to electronic Official Personnel Folders (eOPFs) to provide 24 hour access from all locations. Retrieving specific personnel records is as easy as logging on, eliminating the need to wait for human resources to issue the file.

Although the move from paper to digital records is time consuming, the benefits are apparent. That being said, it takes more than just converting paper files to live in a digital environment, it takes a concerted effort by everyone in the ranks of the agency to make it work.