Table 5.

Sample quotes of preferences for future use of VA HITs.

Theme	Sample quotes
On using electronic communications with providers	I’ve noticed that SM can be hit or miss. I’ve got some doctors who really use the thing. They get back to you right away and it’s great, but if your doctor doesn’t use SM then you are relying on the phone or going in to the hospital. [SM] is a great service as long as your doctor is using it.
Notifications or alerts	I have reminders coming in via emails, via text and all I have to do is hit accept and it goes on the calendar in my iPad. If it was that simple with the VA, I would be reminded of every appointment and they’d never have to send out another piece of mail again, the VA could save all this money on sending me these [appointment reminder] cards.
	They could communicate a lot of stuff to the vets through My HealtheVet. Every time you log on [the Vet could] have a [notification] message. It could be anything. It could be “we’re having a special on blood tests this week” or “your next appointment is [pause].” Could be tons of things they could put in there.
System integration and synchronization	I would like to have all [VA technologies] linked together in one place and that’s why I’ve been using the [Microsoft] Health Vault. If [the VA] could combine telehealth with My HealtheVet that would be the best website you could go to but also make the information available.
	I travel and [prefer] not having to be tied to a home computer. Anywhere we are with a tablet or phone, we could find out our information, our appointments, our medications, lab work, all the things we need would be available where ever we are whether I’m in an RV driving to the Grand Canyon or whether I’m at home or even in Europe where I could still do it with a mobile app.
Standardization	I think they should all be very similar, same similar appearance anyway. They don’t have to be the same but give me the same appearance where if it says Blue Button on one, it says Blue Button on another. If it was set up like Microsoft in your windows where I don’t care if you use your phone, your laptop or your home computer when you turn it on, you’re going to see the same thing every time. Like you said different items in different locations, but they’re all the same items and all the same design and the same look.
Design	I’m saying it should be something simple that if I went and opened the program up, whether it be a button, a little logo, whatever it’s going to have, something that would say, be in the shape of a needle I need immunizations…click, something simple that I could identify each thing that I’m going to look for. Use the “KISS” method…”keep it simple…”
	I normally now go to my Windows 8.1; it has a completely different look to it. It’s simple, it’s pictures and letters, and it tells you. for example, I look at this and I go this is my email, this is my contact list, this is my…and we can do the same for the VA…this is my medication, this is my appointments. I want little boxes, windows to tell me where to go.
Authentication	And whether you get it on the identification card, the microchip which will keep track of that or however, but one time you do need a face to face with somebody to verify who you are who you say you are.
	Why not online like the bank, banking online. You just sign up, you put in your security questions, whatever they ask you and then they send you back a confirmation email.
Delegation and sharing information with community providers	I want to be able to send my outside and VA provider an email with my records of my meds or labs or surgeries, but securely. I don’t want to have to go here and there requesting my records. It’d be great to give outside providers limited or one-time access to your records so they could see your [medical] history.
	My brother picks up my laptop and gets on My HealtheVet and he starts ordering stuff for me; technically that should not be allowed because I didn’t authenticate him. But if at the same time, I say to my brother I’m in bed, I can’t do it, can you go to my computer; there should be a method where I should be able to let him do that for me.
	You would have to be able to give your permission and once you give your permission they should have access. If I’m going to be an invalid and I can’t make decisions for myself like turning the power of attorney over to someone, they should have access to everything I have access to.
Single sign-on for federated credentialing	I think if you’re a vet, there’s difficulty in maintaining what your passwords are sometimes, guys lose them and they don’t remember, I think there’s merit in having just one login. The downside on the fact that I work with websites and that is that you do expose security cause if somebody gets the one they’re going get everything.
	Now the VA is using all the other federal agencies to get information on a veteran–they have access to my social security, they have access to my IRS information, my 1010 that I got for benefits‒so I don’t have a problem with one password being utilized after I [have] vetted with the VA to make sure I am who I [say] am. I don’t want to have to do a separate [password] for eBenefits or social security…or whatever other government agency I deal with…it should be all one.
Accessing information and education about VA HIT	I think if the VA really wanted to, there should be opportunity or classes, hey we’ll sit in a conference room with a big screen and I’m not trying to create a job for me or anybody else, but get a guy that’s a novice like myself and say okay, “hey guys let me show you this website, this is how you get to it, this is how you use”…And I think it should be another veteran, I think it needs to be somebody who is just a layman who says we’re going to go through My HealtheVet and just make that person comfortable.