The Department of Veteran Affairs announced that it will be improving the Electronic Health Record, and in turn, deployments of the EHR will be put on hold.
According to a release by the VA’s Public and Intergovernmental Affairs on April 21, there will be improvements made at the five sites that use the new EHR. The sites are Spokane VA Health Care System, VA Walla Walla Health Care, Roseburg VA Health Care System, VA Southern Oregon Health Care and CA Central Ohio Health Care System. This will be part of a larger program reset.
“We’ve heard from Veterans and VA clinicians that the new electronic health record is not meeting expectations – and we’re holding Oracle Cerner and ourselves accountable to get this right,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough. “This reset period will allow us to focus on fixing what’s wrong, listening to those we serve, and laying the foundation for a modern electronic health record that delivers for Veterans and clinicians.”
The VA will be fixing issues identified in the “assess and address” period that recently happened. According to the release, this reset is after an extended pause in deployments that started in July 2022, which then ended with the “assess and address” period. The VA has been working to fix the problems that were identified, and also work with Oracle Cerner with other issues. The VA and Oracle Cerner are creating an amended contract that increases Oracle Cerner’s accountability to deliver the highest quality EHR system, the release said. The VA is also working with Congress, and it is estimated that costs will be reduced by $400 million in Fiscal Year 2023.
“For the past few years, we’ve tried to fix this plane while flying it – and that hasn’t delivered the results that Veterans or our staff deserve,” said Dr. Neil Evans, Acting Program Executive Director, Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office. “This reset changes that. We are going to take the time necessary to get this right for Veterans and VA clinicians alike, and that means focusing our resources solely on improving the EHR at the sites where it is currently in use and improving its fit for VA more broadly. In doing so, we will enhance the EHR for both current and future users, paving the way for successful future deployments.”
While there is a reset for most deployments, the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in Chicago will continue. This is the only fully integrated VA and Department of Defense health care system scheduled to go live next March.
