Noteboom The Law Firm

Veterans May Soon Be Able To Self-Diagnose with VA Kiosks

May 26, 2010 - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has received both criticism and praise as of late. One thing they are always doing, however, is moving forward in attempting to improve health care for veterans. More veterans with more needs are coming to the VA health care system every day and the VA needs to adapt to serve them.

Whether veterans refuse to ask for help out of pride or embarrassment, many of them desperately need help. Since very few of the veterans requiring mental health assistance are getting the help the need, the VA is making it easier to get that help.  

The VA is designing a kiosk system for many of its clinics providing mental health services. The Patient Assessment System (PAS) is a kiosk providing those patients who have very few computer skills the ability to self-assess their various conditions. Veterans simply visit a participating VA health center, sit in the kiosk, and conduct their assessment. The PAS then meshes the veteran's answers with the VA's VISTA system and produces notes for the VA doctor's files. The information generated from the kiosk self-assessment also generates summaries of its "conclusions" for the patient.

The kiosks will be deployed to 4 VA mental health clinics in 4 regions of the country. Hopefully the ability to use these kiosks will help some veterans get an idea of the type of help they need and help the VA understand more about the mental health issues affecting veterans.