So Long VistA, Hello AViVA

The Veterans Affairs Department released its Fiscal Year 2010 Performance and Accountability Report on Monday, offering some insights into how it plans to modernize its Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture.

The report said VA plans to develop two electronic health record prototypes based on what it calls "A Virtual Implementation of VistA," which results in one of my favorite federal twists on the English language -- the nested acronym (in this case, "AViVA").

AViVA will provide a browser interface into records running on one of the multi-tiered architectures we all know and love.