As America’s largest integrated health system, the Veterans Health Administration is expected to provide top-tier tech support to its patients and staff. Integration between technology and healthcare must be seamless to ensure proper care and minimal injury.

As I’m saying this, you’re probably envisioning an X-ray machine, an MRI scanner, or some other large piece of medical tech equipment, but what we’re going to talk about is much smaller — apps! Mobile applications for your smartphone!

The apps we’re going to be covering are part of the VA App Store, a collection of a whopping 47 apps, 33 for veterans, and 14 for healthcare professionals. That’s the equivalent of almost two screens-worth of apps on your iPhone! The good news is that no person would ever need all of them, and actually, many of them open up in your browser, so you can save your precious home screen space for all your favorite apps.

In this post, we’ll be giving a brief overview of just the 14 apps that are useful to VA healthcare professionals. Maybe in the future, we’ll go through some of the 33 other apps (some of them are pretty useful and even fun). We’ll also talk a bit about what might be on the horizon for the VA mobile apps in the near future, and how you can contribute.

Of the fourteen apps, there are six that anyone can access! These are powerful tools for any medical professional to have in their pocket. Here’s a brief overview of each:

1. Caring4WomenVeterans

The Caring4WomenVeterans app is an informational app that provides useful information for providing care to women veterans. This information is uniquely useful to meet the physical and mental needs that women veterans may experience. There are facts about women’s health, a summary of common issues they face, and a questionnaire to guide patients to get the care they need.

Technical specs: Available for iPhone and Android via the App Store and Google Play Store. No credentials required.

2. Preconception Care

The Preconception Care app is an app that provides information on family planning with a focus on preconception information including pregnancy prevention, risk factors, medical concerns, and healthy lifestyle information. Resources to other key regional and national organizations are also provided in the app.

Technical specs: Available for iPhone and Android via the App Store and Google Play Store. No credentials required.

3. PFA Mobile

Psychological First Aid (PFA) mobile is an app that provides assistance to first responders with the fundamentals of PFA for various age groups. It also has a self-assessment for PFA readiness and a form for survivors to assist in resource referral.

Technical specs: Available for iPhone and Android via the App Store and Google Play Store. No credentials required.

4. Safe Patient Handling

The Safe Patient Handling app provides tips and techniques for the safest possible transport and handling of patients. These Safe Patient Handling and Mobility (SPHM) techniques are supplemented with images and video clips. There’s also an assessment for patients coupled with a scoring algorithm.

Technical specs: Available for iPhone and Android via the App Store and Google Play Store. No credentials required.

5. Exposure Ed

This is Exposure Ed is an informational app that goes over different types of exposures veteran patients may have had to all sorts of substances while on duty, including chemical, biological, noise, etc. It includes risks for your patients and information on programs and benefits for certain exposures.

Technical specs: Available for iPhone and Android via the App Store and Google Play Store. No credentials required.

6. CHAMPVA Pay

Here’s a tongue-twister: The Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) Pay app is an app that checks the participation of healthcare providers with patient’s Current Procedural Technology (CPT), International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (IDC-10), National Drug Code (NDC), and Durable Medical Equipment (HCPCS-DME) codes. This will save you and your patient time when going over what care is covered by their medical provider.

Technical specs: Available via an internet browser. No credentials required. I personally could not find this one on the Google Play or App Store.

The remaining eight apps are specifically for VA medical staff, each with some sort of barrier for non-staff members. After going through some of the functionality of these apps, I can only imagine how much extra work would be needed without them!

Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry Clinical Portal

Not going to lie, when I first read the title of this I was pretty confused, why would medical professionals register their fire pits on a VA app? Turns out the app is actually for viewing your veteran patient’s exposure to hazardous dusts, sprays, mists, smokes, and fumes they could’ve been exposed to while on duty. Controversial burn pits continuously burned hazardous chemicals and substances including medicine, batteries, animals, etc in modern conflicts, leading to health complications. Knowing about your patient’s deployment-related exposures is essential to proper care.

Technical specs: Available on an internet browser, requires access to VA Network, and Airborne Hazards & Open Burn Pit Registry (AHOBPR) access.

Annie App for Clinicians

The Annie App for Clinicians uses regular SMS texting to help veterans get self-care tips, recommendations, and encouragement while at home. Patients regularly submit their health information such as blood pressure, SpO2 levels, weight, etc. via text, and receive automated, condition-specific texts back. There’s a whole video series on how you can edit the automated responses for your patients. Unfortunately, the app is has a laundry list of “known issues,” so one can only imagine how many “unknown issues” it has. That being said, it’s a very convenient way for veterans to get some care while at home, and most people know how to send a text by now, right?

Technical specs: Available via an internet browser. Requires VistA credentials.

Image Viewing Solutions

The Image Viewing Solution (IVS) app is an app that allows medical professionals to view patient’s medical images. The app has an intuitive and friendly design that allows for zooming, scrolling, and highlighting to get the best perspective on a patient’s medical image.

Technical specs: Available via an internet browser. Requires VistA credentials.

Immunization Campaign

The Immunization Campaign app allows you to view a group of patient’s immunization records, speeding up the process of administering a vaccine campaign to a large group of patients. The app is currently unavailable.

Technical specs: Available for iPhone and Android via the App Store and Google Play Store. Requires VistA credentials, government-furnished equipment (GFE) phone, access to VA Network, CPRS access, need CPT codes.

Patient Viewer 3.2.0

Patient Viewer 3.2.0 enables you to quickly view patient’s Electronic Health Records (EHRs), giving you the information you need to provide proper care to your patient. Information includes contact info, vitals, medications, conditions, radiology reports, etc. There’s actually a 10-video tutorial to this app, as well as a clinical scenarios video.

Technical specs: Available via an internet browser. Requires VistA credentials. Designed for VA GFE tablets.

Scheduling Manager

The Remote Veterans Apnea Management Platform (REVAMP) App is used by sleep clinicians to schedule sleep testing sessions, set up patient accounts, and look over PAP machine data. Certain authorized users can even send out SMS messages and educational materials for their patients! It gives the ability to view all patients’ data from a facility in one place and to efficiently manage the workload and data handling that would otherwise be much more complex.

Technical specs: Available via an internet browser. Requires SSOi login credentials.

REVAMP App for Clinicians

The Scheduling Manager app gives VA schedulers the power to manage appointment requests from veterans using the Veteran Appointment Request app. It also allows for messaging between VA schedulers and patients and updating appointment information for patients.

Technical specs: Available via an internet browser. Requires VistA credentials.

VA Staff Launchpad

The VA Staff Launchpad app has information and links to download all the apps above. This app is intended to save you time by containing the information on all the apps medical professionals will need in the workplace.

Technical Specs: Available via GFE iPhone or iPad. Requires access to VA Network.

Wow, that was a ton of apps! But that’s not all! On February 11, 2019, Apple announced it would be releasing a “Health Records” app that would allow veterans to view all of their health records with the VA on one interface. We’ll see how this new app will change up the existing apps, and hopefully, Android will be catching the memo and follow suit!

The Apps They Don’t Want You to Know About

Are you a serious health-tech junkie interested in apps that aren’t even available yet? Then you should check out becoming a VA app beta tester! As a tester, you’ll be giving the developers feedback on their apps, helping to optimize their design! Turns out they actually do want people to know about these apps.

Are you yourself an app developer? Turns out the VA is so eager to get into the mobile phone space that if your idea is good enough, they’ll give you the funding and resources to make your app come true! Check it out here!

Have a cool idea for a VA or health-related app? Drop it in the comments below!

Did you know that all of the photos in this blog were taken by budding photographers and are free to use? Check out these amazing artists and what they do!

MOHI SYED via pexels.com
Rawpixel.com via pexels.com
Soumil Kumar via pexels.com
Lee Campbell via pexels.com

All app images and information on apps belong to the VA App store, EGA Associates claims no copyright. The images are used solely for informative purposes.

Bert Steyaert

EGA Associates Digital Media Manager

bert@egaassociates.com