The Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has a requirement for Human Systems Services for the Office of Health Informatics (OHI), Human Factors Engineering (HFE).

The Office of Health Informatics (OHI) is integral to Veterans Health Administration (VHA) programs that provide patient-centered health care to Veterans, offering advanced and secure enterprise data systems, sophisticated analytic and measurement solutions, decision support, business intelligence and web communications. OHI facilitates evidence-based decisions for individual Veterans and their families, patient populations, clinicians, and those managing health care delivery systems. The Human Factors Engineering (HFE) directorate exists within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), VHA, OHI, Clinical Informatics and Data Management Office (CIDMO). HFE seeks to increase awareness and application of human factors principles, improving performance and safety of VA health information systems (HIS) by optimizing the end-user experience (EUX). HFE applies agile best practices to provide value incrementally to sponsors and business owners and works collaboratively within multi-disciplinary teams.

HFE encourages and offers human-centered design (HCD) services (including task analysis, evaluation of context of use, workflow assessments, and user interface design and usability assessments) for a variety of VA-developed and acquired products and services. HFE requires multi-disciplinary engineering, management, and technical support for numerous projects that range from understanding user needs through implementation, optimization, and sustainment amongst a diverse population of Veteran, Caregiver, Administrative and Clinical Users [https://www.va.gov/vetdata/quick_facts.asp] to ensure that the health information technology (HIT) provided for their use is helpful and relevant to them. HFE supports VA initiatives to optimize both the Veteran Experience and the Employee Experience

• The purpose of the requirement is to obtain human factors engineering support services, technical engineering support, clinical expertise, and program support for the HFE office to meet the ongoing and continuously evolving programmatic needs of VA. The Contractor shall provide human factors engineering support from knowledgeable resources with appropriate training, education, expertise, and credentials to conduct the studies in accordance with HFE and VA policies and procedures. The Contractor shall provide the necessary technology expertise for assigned activities across the VA Systems Inventory. The Contractor shall provide the clinical expertise on the diverse domains available throughout VHA care delivery network, with practical exposure to VA sites of care and awareness to the scope of practice applied in VA. The Contractor shall develop, submit, and execute scientifically valid studies that include objectives, background, methodology, data analysis, and results discussion that is consistent with the nature of the study. While occasional organizational changes may occur, the scope of this effort is intended to include projects and programs listed below as well as new ones that may emerge across VHA and VA:
• VistA/CPRS: VA’s current electronic health record (EHR) system. Includes the Joint Longitudinal Viewer (JLV) and CPRS support on national releases and new service requests.
• Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM): a new EHR system that will facilitate interoperability with the Department of Defense (DoD) and other health care partners to enhance patient-centered, team-based and evidence-based care by giving health care providers a complete picture of a patient’s care and treatment history.
• Connected Care: tools for Veterans, Caregivers, and Clinicians provided through a number of modalities including smartphones, tablets, kiosks and websites. My HealtheVet, Web and Mobile Solutions, and Telehealth are part of this suite.
• Community Care: refers eligible Veterans for care in the community, collecting data about the care provided and patient outcomes achieved, and paying for the care.
• VA Innovation Office: identifies and funds innovations that show promise for improving care and benefits delivery and Veteran and VA staff experiences.
• Clinical Informatics and Data Management Office (CIDMO): entities such as Veterans Health Information Exchange, Knowledge-Based Systems, Informatics Patient Safety, and Bar Code Medication Administration that periodically request services from HFE, including the IHP efforts.
• Other VA administrations and program offices: HFE conducts ad hoc reviews of websites, commercial software products and a variety of other systems, including support for Veteran Benefits Administration (VBA), Office of Information and Technology (OI&T/OIT), Veterans Experience Office (VEO) and Digital Service at VA (DSVA), as well as VA-prioritized initiatives that OHI supports.
• VA VISN and Field Offices: VISN and Field offices develop and deploy solutions for local or VISN-wide use and occasionally request HFE consultation and/or review.
• End-User and Council engagement: HFE supports improving usability of the VA systems inventory, including requirements analysis through systems redesign by enabling ‘Field Usability Specialists’ to perform critical locally resourced on-site and regional support activities through educational programs and professional guidance. Council support includes establishing HFE competencies and engagement to critical decision-making governing bodies throughout VA.