VA Org Structure & Application Landscape

2021 recording. Leadership names and some portfolio details have shifted, but the organizational structure and requirement flow described here remain foundational context.

This session maps where Apothesource sits in the VA ecosystem, how OCC and OIT responsibilities intersect, and why that organizational split shapes technical priorities and delivery pressure.

VA Org Structure Recording

TL;DR

Most day-to-day requirements/funding pressure comes through OCC, while contract and technical governance pressure comes through OIT. Teams are effectively operating across both at all times.

The long-term platform direction described was to reduce siloed app stacks and move toward shared services across scheduling/telehealth workflows.

Veteran-facing application scope was already trending toward consolidation in broader VA channels, while staff-facing platforms were expanding and becoming strategically central.

Organizational Context

OCC Side (Clinical/Business Direction)

The Office of Connected Care (under VHA) is the primary business-side home for much of this work, with leadership deeply involved in veteran-facing experience and clinical outcomes.

Key message from the session: OCC leaders can exert direct influence on priorities and unblock decisions quickly, which materially affects delivery sequencing.

OIT Side (Contracts/Technical Governance)

Contracts and technical oversight sit on OIT-aligned pathways, including telehealth/scheduling portfolio governance and DevSecOps/process expectations.

Operationally, this means teams must satisfy both:

  • OCC urgency and product outcomes

  • OIT process/compliance and platform alignment

Product Line Framing

Telehealth & Scheduling was presented as the core product-line umbrella containing multiple historically independent systems that now need platform convergence.

Why Shared Services Became a Priority

A recurring architectural issue was historical siloing: each product evolved with its own stack and duplicated capabilities.

The stated strategic direction was to consolidate common capabilities into shared services, first on OCC/mobile work and then across telehealth scheduling domains.

This framing is key for understanding later initiatives such as enterprise scheduling/control layers and common platform components.

Application Landscape (High-Level)

Veteran-Facing Portfolio

Examples discussed included:

  • Rx refill/mobile experiences

  • My HealtheVet transition pressure from broader VA portal modernization

Trend noted at the time: veteran-facing functionality consolidation into larger VA channels.

Staff-Facing Portfolio

Staff tooling was positioned as the growth area with sustained strategic relevance, including telehealth operations and clinical workflow support.

Examples discussed included care-management/charting and video-connect ecosystems with multiple supporting services.

Authentication Flow Pattern

A common login pattern was described:

  1. application checks existing session/JWT

  2. if missing, route through identity selection

  3. credential provider handles 2FA

  4. user returns through IAM-backed flow to app context

Multiple credential providers may exist, but IAM remains the central identity path.

Practical Operating Reality

The session emphasized an internal buffering layer: program/product leadership absorbs stakeholder churn and political noise, then translates it into actionable engineering priorities.

For engineers, this explains why requirement shape can appear inconsistent or rapidly reprioritized across adjacent programs.

Why This is in the Knowledge Base

This is a foundational orientation for understanding requirement provenance and prioritization pressure. It connects organizational power structure (OCC vs OIT) to technical architecture decisions and helps explain why shared-services initiatives recur across scheduling and telehealth work.