Department of Veterans Affairs Adds Trusted Authentication From Anakam

PRESS RELEASE

SAN DIEGO, July 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has selected Anakam.TFA(R) Two-Factor Authentication as the enterprise authentication tool for remote access to VA systems, a key enabling technology to help the VA provide more veteran-centric benefit and healthcare services online. Anakam(R) provides the VA a cost-effective citizen-facing two-factor authentication solution delivered through multiple channels without the cost and administrative burden of tokens or smart cards. In addition, the technology helps the VA and other federal agencies achieve compliance with Federal laws, regulations, and guidelines (FISMA, OMB, and NIST) and healthcare (HIPAA and CCHIT) authentication standards for the protection of personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI). The improved authentication, part of VA's overall identity management strategy, will enable trusted online access to a broad range of online services to veterans and other external constituents. This will extend the comprehensive reach of the VA services to an even larger audience while at the same time improving the timeliness of benefits (claims) adjudication, quality of benefits delivery, improved efficiency and transparency, and reduced fraud.

"The VA selected Anakam because it allows us to provide more trusted access as we continue to manage identity across the entire VA and integrate directly with our enterprise identity management infrastructure," according to Charlie De Sanno, Executive Director of Enterprise Technology and Infrastructure Engineering. "Their user-friendly secure authentication solution makes it possible for Veterans to have ubiquitous secure access to their personal health records, benefits applications and information, and career realignment tools and drives the organization to have a single view of the veteran since we know who they are electronically." In addition to the impact on the VA applications specifically, Anakam.TFA(R) will also play an important role in access to remote information in joint VA and Department of Defense (DOD) information sharing efforts critical to easing the transition from service to post-service activities.

"The partnership with the VA is paramount to Anakam because our focus is in the public sector and healthcare verticals. As a veteran-owned business we take great pride in providing the VA with improved ways to access information," according to Anakam CEO, Allan Camaisa. Examples of applications that will have Anakam interfaces developed include My HealtheVet health portal, the eBenefits portal, electronic claims processing, VA clinical applications, loan guarantee applications, and remote system access/teleworker programs in the efforts to support compliancy with the Privacy Act and HIPAA. "VA faces all of the challenges for which Anakam designed its technology - protection of sensitive healthcare data, protection of private data, enabling information sharing across complex organizations, trusted interface with an extremely large external population, and the need to deliver new and more robust e-services to increase access and quality, reduce costs, and speed delivery. Anakam helps health care institutions like the VA improve their service delivery and prevent medical identity theft and fraud by enabling secure remote access to confidential health information in a cost-effective and scalable manner, without disrupting patient and provider workflow."

About the Department of Veterans Affairs:

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) mission is to serve America's veterans and their families with dignity and compassion and to be their principal advocate in ensuring that they receive medical care, benefits, social support, and lasting memorials promoting the health, welfare, and dignity of all veterans in recognition of their service to this Nation. VA is the second largest Federal department and has over 260,000 employees. Among the many professions represented in the vast VA workforce are physicians, nurses, counselors, statisticians, architects, computer specialists, and attorneys. As advocates for veterans and their families, the VA community is committed to providing the very best services with an attitude of caring and courtesy.

VA comprises a Central Office (VACO), which is located in Washington, DC, and field facilities throughout the Nation administered by its three major line organizations: Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), and National Cemetery Administration (NCA). Services and benefits are provided through a nationwide network of 153 hospitals, 895 outpatient clinics, 135 nursing homes, 47 residential rehabilitation treatment programs, 209 readjustment counseling centers, 57 veterans benefits regional offices, and 125 national cemeteries. For more information, visit www.va.gov.

About Anakam:

Anakam(R) enables strong authentication and identity management at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions, without encumbering your customers, partners, and employees with cards, software downloads, tokens, or fobs. With tens of millions of end users, the Anakam Identity Suite(R) is unique in the industry, providing end-to-end multi-channel capabilities that allow you to enable secure, trusted eBusiness to very large user-communities in a single platform. The suite includes two-factor authentication, remote identity proofing and verification, professional credentialing, and secure collaboration. For more information, visit www.anakam.com.