VA’s enterprise management office gets new acting head
The Department of Veterans Affairs has a new acting head of the Office of Enterprise Integration, Karen Brazell.
President Donald Trump directed Brazell to perform the duties of the assistant secretary for OEI on April 7, replacing Dat Tran, according to the VA’s website.
In this role, Brazell will oversee the office in charge of modernizing technology and sparking innovation in the VA. The Office of Enterprise Integration also houses the VA’s data analytics branch, a critical component of the agency responding to the coronavirus pandemic, which requires extensive use of data to drive response efforts.
“Karen is an excellent choice to lead OEI, which is charged with integrating the operations,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie in a news release. “OEI played a critical role in the successful rollout of the MISSION Act and countless other efforts aimed at helping Veterans, and Veterans will continue to benefit under her leadership.”
The MISSION Act extended out-of-network care to veterans by allowing them to seek private health options and use more in-home services. Much of that required building out IT networks to integrate payments and extend telehealth options. The VA’s recent IT budget request included hundreds of millions of dollars for IT programs to extend MISSION Act capabilities.
Previously, Brazell served as VA’s principal executive director and chief acquisition officer. Since 2018 she has played a role in ensuring supply lines remain open to VA medical centers and clinics around the country, especially during the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the VA. She has also severed in acquisition leadership roles in the Navy and as an Army veteran.
