Most people in the healthcare arena know that the Veterans Health Administration is the Big Kahuna when it comes to IT–always on the cutting edge of something involving electronic health records. But some may not be aware of how dedicated the VA is to helping the private sector advance, as well.

At a Monday morning lecture, “The Current and Future State of Health Information for Veterans Health Administration,” at the 2013 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition, Theresa Cullen, MD, director of health informatics at the Interagency Program Office, said the mission of the VA is to care–for life–for those who serve and those who have served. Yet, her speech was peppered with the many examples of how the VA wants to lead the private sector forward, while caring for veterans.

Cullen, a practicing emergency physician, says she is motivated to be a physician because of the healing touch she can provide at the bedside. “The way I touch people is by actually touching them,” she says. She believes touch at the bedside provides solace, but so does IT. “And that’s really why we’re all doing this,” she adds.

“It’s about systemic solace,” Cullen adds, regarding the VA’s mission. “It’s what we do as a system, to lower the risk of suicide, treat post traumatic stress syndrome, and give veterans the opportunity for a lifetime of good health.”

“We’re where we are because we have amazing leadership in the VA,” she said of the VA’s progress on the IT front. The VA has the largest number of healthcare informaticists in the United States, Cullen said. “We bring a very unique experience to the table of health IT.

Cullen said the VA’s efforts are mainly driven by the desire to serve the veterans, many of whom have to access five to seven systems during the course of a single treatment. They need to see the same data wherever they go. At the same time, 40 to 70 percent of veterans seek care outside of the VA, which draws the private sector into the equation.

Cullen, who worked for 27 years in the Indian Health Services, admitted that many lessons are learned the hard way when you’re trying to advance programs and help people. The VA’s academic, research and federal funding programs, however, have made it a great source of knowledge that the agency wants to freely share with the private sector.

“Like in Indian Country, when you make a decision, you make it for the next seven generations,” she said, adding “What we produce [at the VA] provides a business model for the private sector,” including open source software.