So, Where’s the Overall IT Architecture for VA?

That’s a question key to resolving the Veterans Affairs Department’s systems problems, Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, told VA Secretary Eric Shinseki at a joint hearing of the House Armed Services and Veterans Affairs committees yesterday.

Johnson, who told the panel he had extensive experience with information technology during his Air Force career and as owner of an IT consulting firm, said the problems the VA faces with claims processing, for example, stem “from the lack of an underlying information technology architecture.” He wanted to know when the department will develop one.

Shinseki said he would get back to him.