OEHRM Leaders Earn Awards For Innovation in Health IT

Several Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization (OEHRM) leaders, including Executive Director John H. Windom and Chief Technology and Integration Officer John Short, were recognized by FedHealthIT on Nov. 17 during a virtual conference and awards ceremony for professionals in the federal medical innovation and research field.

Windom and Short, both previous FedHealthIT100 award winners, were chosen as inaugural FedHealthIT100 Hall of Fame inductees for the strides they have made in support of VA’s mission to implement technology solutions that improve Veteran experiences. Dr. Augie Turano, OEHRM’s acting director of data migration and syndication, and Kenneth Blount, a U.S. Army Veteran and testing manager at OEHRM, were honored with FedHealthIT100 awards, which celebrate government and industry professionals making an impact in the federal health care space, driving innovation and giving back to the larger community.

As executive director of OEHRM, Windom leads VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization effort, which launched a new electronic health record (EHR) solution at select facilities in the Pacific Northwest and Las Vegas in late October.VA plans to continue rolling out the new system at sites in Alaska, Idaho, Ohio, Oregon and Washington state in 2021.

“Once it is fully implemented, the EHR will transform the country’s largest integrated health care system and benefit millions of Veterans, as well as their families and caregivers,” Windom said. “No other health care organization in the world is attempting something of this scale and complexity. It is a critical mission to VA, and this award is a testament of what we’ve accomplished in our program.”

Both leaders said staff flexibility and ingenuity have led to VA’s success during unprecedented times.

“VA is leading in the development of technology that offers maximum benefit to Veterans and maximum protection of their personal information,” Short said. “This demonstrates our focus on ensuring data interoperability, security and analytics, which are key to improving health outcomes for our Veterans.”

Under Turano’s direction, OEHRM’s Data Migration and Data Syndication Management team has transferred over 1 billion legacy health records, representing more than 24 million Veterans, to VA’s new EHR solution. Blount was recognized for his work in data interoperability, security and analytics.

Windom was a featured speaker during FedHealthIT’s virtual event. An event recap is available on FedHealthIT’s website. All FedHealthIT100 Hall of Fame inductees are also featured in the FedHealthIT 2021 winter magazine.