The Division of Veterans Affairs is shifting forward with the rollout of a brand new, multi-billion-dollar Digital Well being File at its well being care services, after a three-year pause to handle longstanding points with the system.
Over the weekend, the VA rolled out the Oracle-Cerner system to 4 VA well being care techniques in Michigan ― Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Detroit and Saginaw.
That is the primary wave of EHR deployments the VA has deliberate for this 12 months underneath an accelerated schedule. Not like earlier deployments, which occurred one web site at a time, the EHR go-lives in Michigan all came about on the identical day.
VA’s new EHR is presently operating at 10 websites. Full deployment would carry the EHR to 170 websites. The division presently expects to finish the deployment as quickly as 2031. The Protection Division accomplished its transition to the identical EHR platform in March 2024.
VA’s EHR modernization mission is without doubt one of the largest IT contracts within the federal authorities. The mission stalled underneath a number of administrations and ballooned effectively past its preliminary $10 billion estimate. Value estimates for VA’s EHR modernization vary from $16.1 billion to almost $50 billion.
The VA has been in a “reset” interval since April 2023, which paused new go-lives till the division addresses persistent outages and value points reported by VA medical employees already utilizing the brand new EHR.
The division mentioned it’s now mounted “hundreds of problems” associated to the preliminary rollout of the EHR system at its authentic six websites.
VA’s inspector normal workplace reported in September 2024 that the brand new EHR has had greater than 800 main efficiency incidents since its launch. Greater than half of these incidents occurred after the 2023 pause on new deployments.
A Authorities Accountability Workplace report in March 2025 discovered that solely 13% of VA employees utilizing the brand new Oracle-Cerner EHR believed the modernized system made VA as environment friendly as attainable, and 58% of customers believed the brand new system elevated affected person security dangers.
Deputy VA Secretary Paul Lawrence, the division’s lead official on the EHR modernization mission, advised Federal Information Community in an interview in February that the EHR is now assembly uptime targets outlined in its contract with the seller, and that 10 of the previous 12 months have been “incident-free.”
“We tell everybody the system is reliable,” Lawrence mentioned.
Lawrence mentioned in a press release on Monday that the deployments in Michigan “represent real progress toward a unified electronic health record that strengthens care delivery for our patients and providers.”
In June, the VA will deploy the Oracle-Cerner EHR to 3 VA medical facilities in Ohio and one in Kentucky.
In August, the brand new system will go stay at three VA medical facilities in Indiana. By October, the brand new EHR will probably be stay on the VA medical heart in Anchorage, Alaska and Cleveland, Ohio.
The VA mentioned in a press launch that the Oracle-Cerner EHR will guarantee medical doctors and nurses spend extra time with veterans throughout medical appointments, and “less time struggling with outdated technology.”
The division says the brand new EHR may even allow seamless transfers of navy well being information between the DoD and VA, in addition to combine veterans’ well being data from private-sector well being care services.
The VA mentioned it employed dozens of employees to assist with the newest section of the EHR rollout, and is within the technique of hiring a complete of 400 workers.
VA’s EHR Modernization misplaced a few of its staffing within the early days of the second Trump administration. Division officers advised Home lawmakers in February 2025 that the EHR workplace fired about eight workers, as a part of a governmentwide push to terminate probationary employees. One other 16 workers within the EHR workplace accepted a governmentwide deferred resignation supply.
Final 12 months, VA’s EHR workplace had about 250 workers, however was funded to have as much as 330 complete full-time employees.
The division additionally minimize ties with a number of corporations offering EHR help work final 12 months, as a part of a mass cancellation of contracts.
The primary Trump administration awarded the EHR contract to Cerner in Might 2018, and commenced deployments just a few months later. Cerner was acquired by Oracle in June 2022.
In a listening to in January , VA Secretary Doug Collins advised members of the Senate VA Committee that the EHR rollout underneath the Biden administration was an “unmitigated disaster.”
“The previous administration just frankly gave up, threw their hands up in the air and said, ‘We quit,’ after billions of dollars being spent,” he mentioned.
Collins mentioned one of many key points with earlier go-lives was that the VA allowed an excessive amount of customization in how native services carried out the brand new EHR. The division mentioned it has standardized the EHR deployment course of.
“Saturday’s rollout focuses on a standardized system that will put all VA facilities on the same page and remove the complexities that caused delays,” the VA wrote in a press launch.
The VA says it’s additionally eradicated layers of paperwork that have been holding the mission again. The division mentioned that underneath the Biden Administration, EHR modernization choices “were left to several councils that fought among themselves and held up key decisions.”
“VA replaced that unwieldy system with a single council that answers to top VA leaders, increasing accountability and making it easier to find and implement common-sense decisions,” the division wrote.
The Trump administration is trying to give the VA $4.2 billion in discretionary funding for the continuing EHR rollout in its fiscal 2027 funds request — a rise of about $800 million.
Final month, the Justice Division charged a former VA EHR govt with concealing 1000’s of {dollars} in money and items he allegedly acquired from authorities contractors. High Republicans on the Home and Senate VA Committees mentioned they might be monitoring any potential impacts these prices would have on the continued EHR rollout.
If you want to contact this reporter about latest modifications within the federal authorities, please e mail jheckman@federalnewsnetwork.com, or attain out on Sign at jheckman.29
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