U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
Skip to main content

Last updated

4-Sight

Share Print

Eyeglasses make up 30% of prosthetic purchases at VA. The time between an initial prescription and final delivery can greatly affect a Veteran. 4-Sight was developed to increase efficiency in eyeglass ordering. The program reduces the manual processes completed by prosthetics staff and encourages automated eyeglass consultations. 4-Sight leverages technology to automate actions in VistA and ensures that vendors receive the patient prescription information exactly as it was entered by clinicians. This increases the likelihood that Veterans will receive the right eyeglasses the first time.

This innovation is scaling widely with the support of national stakeholders. See more scaling innovations.

Adoptions:

59 successful, 6 in-progress

Awards and Recognition:

VHA Shark Tank Winner

Partners:

Diffusion of Excellence

Tags:

Healthcare Administration Information Technology Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Veteran Experience
Contact Team

Overview

Problem

Eyeglasses constitute approximately 30% of prosthetics purchasing at VA. The wait between prescription and delivery can severely impact Veteran experience.

Solution

4 Sight is an IT and business solution for the VA Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service (PSAS) that promotes standardization of procurement of eyeglasses for veterans by using data to perform automation actions in VistA. 4 Sight is capable of decreasing the amount of open eyeglass orders; decreasing the amount of open eyeglass orders for greater than 30 days; ... See more

Results

Impact of 4-Sight
• Reduces Veteran wait time from eyeglass consult to ship date.
• Allows staff to focus on orders that cannot be automated, reducing wait times across all prosthetic orders(beyond eyeglasses).
• Ensures all Veterans eyeglass orders are placed in a timely manner regardless of
staffing variance.
• Currently located in 50+ facilities ... See more

Diffusion tracker

Does not include Clinical Resource Hubs (CRH)

Statuses

AR: Fayetteville VA Medical Center (Fayetteville, Arkansas) AZ: Bob Stump Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Prescott) AZ: Carl T. Hayden Veterans' Administration Medical Center (Phoenix, Arizona) AZ: Tucson VA Medical Center (Tucson) CA: Jennifer Moreno Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (San Diego, California) CA: Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans' Hospital (Loma Linda, California) CA: Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center (Long Beach) CA: West Los Angeles VA Medical Center (West Los Angeles) CT: West Haven VA Medical Center (West Haven) DC: Washington VA Medical Center (Washington, District of Columbia) IA: Des Moines VA Medical Center (Des Moines, Iowa) IL: Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center (North Chicago) IL: Danville VA Medical Center (Danville, Illinois) IL: Edward Hines Junior Hospital (Hines) IL: Jesse Brown Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Chicago, Illinois) KY: Franklin R. Sousley Campus (Lexington Leestown) KY: Robley Rex Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Louisville) MA: Brockton VA Medical Center (Brockton) MA: Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans' Hospital (Bedford) MA: Edward P. Boland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Central Western Massachusetts) MA: Jamaica Plain VA Medical Center (Jamaica Plain) MA: West Roxbury VA Medical Center (West Roxbury) MD: Baltimore VA Medical Center (Baltimore) MD: Loch Raven VA Medical Center (Loch Raven) MD: Perry Point VA Medical Center (Perry Point) ME: Togus VA Medical Center (Togus) MI: Oscar G. Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Facility (Iron Mountain) MN: St. Cloud VA Medical Center (St. Cloud) ND: Fargo VA Medical Center (Fargo) NE: Grand Island VA Medical Center (Grand Island) NE: Omaha VA Medical Center (Omaha, Nebraska) NH: Manchester VA Medical Center (Manchester) NJ: East Orange VA Medical Center (East Orange) NJ: Lyons VA Medical Center (Lyons) NM: Raymond G. Murphy Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Albuquerque) NY: Brooklyn VA Medical Center (Brooklyn) NY: Castle Point VA Medical Center (Castle Point) NY: Franklin Delano Roosevelt Hospital (Montrose, New York) NY: James J. Peters Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Bronx) NY: Margaret Cochran Corbin VA Campus (Manhattan) NY: Northport VA Medical Center (Northport) NY: St. Albans VA Medical Center (St. Albans) RI: Providence VA Medical Center (Providence) SD: Fort Meade VA Medical Center (Fort Meade, South Dakota) SD: Hot Springs VA Medical Center (Hot Springs, South Dakota) SD: Royal C. Johnson Veterans' Memorial Hospital (Sioux Falls)
  • Started adoption on 01/2018, ended on 02/2018.
TN: Alvin C. York Veterans' Administration Medical Center (Murfreesboro) TN: James H. Quillen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Mountain Home, Tennessee) TN: Lt. Col. Luke Weathers, Jr. VA Medical Center (Memphis) TN: Nashville VA Medical Center (Nashville) TX: Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans' Hospital (San Antonio, Texas) VT: White River Junction VA Medical Center (White River Junction) WI: Clement J. Zablocki Veterans' Administration Medical Center (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) WI: Tomah VA Medical Center (Tomah) WI: William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans' Hospital (Madison) WV: Beckley VA Medical Center (Beckley) WV: Hershel "Woody" Williams VA Medical Center (Huntington, West Virginia) WV: Louis A. Johnson Veterans' Administration Medical Center (Clarksburg) WV: Martinsburg VA Medical Center (Martinsburg)

NY: Batavia VA Medical Center (Batavia) NY: Bath VA Medical Center (Bath) NY: Buffalo VA Medical Center (Buffalo, New York) NY: Canandaigua VA Medical Center (Canandaigua) NY: Samuel S. Stratton Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Albany, New York) NY: Syracuse VA Medical Center (Syracuse)

There are no unsuccessful adoptions for this innovation.

Implementation

Timeline

  • Month 1
    Engage Stakeholders
  • Months 2-4
    Develop Actionable Consults
  • Months 5-6
    Confirm Vendor Support
  • End of month 6
    Train Optical and Prosthetics Staff
  • Ongoing
    Go live with 4-Sight
  • Ongoing
    Ensure billing success

Risks and mitigations

Risk Mitigation
If Clinical Application Coordinators (CACs) are not engaged immediately in the implementation process, consults will not be actionable Engage CACs early and often in the 4-Sight implementation process
If eyeglass or optical staffing vendors are unaware of a local 4-Sight implementation, they might resist the implementation Work with vendors and local contracting departments to coordinate and communicate 4-Sight implementation efforts

Contact

Comment

Comments and replies are disabled for retired innovations and non-VA users.

VA User (Prosthetic Rep) posted

Our facility has implemented, and very happy with the process, and time saved

About

Origin story

U.S. Army Veteran and VA Technical Career Field intern Tim Strebel had an idea in 2015 that eventually led to the creation of 4-Sight. This practice dramatically improves the speed and accuracy with which millions of eyeglasses are delivered to Veterans. Initially, Strebel teamed up with David Hook and Jonathan Plasencia on a software tool to make ordering o ... U.S. Army Veteran and VA Technical Career Field intern Tim Strebel had an idea in 2015 that eventually led to the creation of 4-Sight. This practice dramatically improves the speed and accuracy with which millions of eyeglasses are delivered to Veterans. Initially, Strebel teamed up with David Hook and Jonathan Plasencia on a software tool to make ordering oxygen for Veterans’ homes easier. The application became a VHA Diffusion of Excellence Gold Status Practice called VistA Home Oxygen Automation for Prosthetics. From that original application, VA employees Strebel, Hook, Pamela Westbrooks, Spencer Mion, Brian Kaiser, and Cory Litson collaborated on an innovative iteration that solves the frustration and long wait times that Veterans experienced when ordering eyeglasses.

Original team

Timothy Strebel

Gold Status Fellow

Cory Litson

Gold Status Fellow

Brian Kaiser

Gold Status Fellow

David Hook

Gold Status Fellow

Spencer Mion

Gold Status Fellow

Devin Harrison

Diffusion Specialist

Gregg Wentworth

Implementing Facility Fellow

Jason Hurt

Implementing Facility Fellow

Search tags

Healthcare Administration Information Technology Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Veteran Experience