The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to follow an accelerated schedule for integrating its new electronic health records system at all hospitals and clinics nationwide by 2031. In addition to keeping patient records, the platform helps coordinate certain health-care functions, such as managing patient bed flow, generating routine documents, and collecting revenue. (Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs is accelerating a systemwide rollout of its new electronic health records platform, with full deployment at all medical sites by 2031, according to the contractor handling the project.
In 2026, the modernized health records system is scheduled to go live at hospitals and clinics in Michigan, Ohio, Alaska and Indiana.
In 2027, the system will be installed at VA facilities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington, Missouri, Idaho, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Illinois, Iowa and Kansas.
Seema Verma, executive vice president at Oracle Health and Life Science, Oracle Corp., offered that timeline at a hearing Monday of the House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on technology modernization.
The latest cost estimate for the system is $37 billion, said Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., subcommittee chairman. “Will the system deliver and do what is needed? Veterans expect safe and timely care and a system that supports our doctors, not works against them,” he said.
The purpose of the hearing was to assess the progress in implementing the platform, as well as addressing problems identified by early users of the electronic health records program.
The program is designed to do more than digitize and manage patient records. It is a platform for sharing health information securely and managing the delivery of care at hospitals and clinics.
Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Ill., raised questions about reports of the new system causing prescription errors and providing incomplete patient data. She asked for updates for addressing data migration problems and software bugs that led to the problems.
Dr. Neil Evans, acting program executive director of VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office, said 1,500 changes have been made to address problems, improve user experience, and provide upgrades to the base platform.
“I believe we are seeing direct line improvement and delivering those in a way where users feel supported and get training with the changes,” Evans said.
VA also needs to update life-cycle cost estimates for completing the project, so lawmakers can “understand the full magnitude of the investment,” said Carol Harris, director of information technology and cybersecurity at the Government Accountability Office.
Cost estimates include all the money spent and how much more is needed to finish the project, go live and carry out operations with staff to support them, Evans said.
The new system includes bed-capacity management software that gives staff real-time numbers on bed availability and patient flow, replacing manual spreadsheets.
Oracle also will introduce a virtual clinical agent that uses artificial intelligence. The AI assistant does not replace clinicians but automates administrative functions, such as the creation of routine documents, so physicians can devote more time to patient care.
Improvements also have been made to oversight and management of pharmacy prescriptions, patient referrals, revenue collection and clinical documentation, Verma said.
For example, pharmacists work within a “unified, queue-driven system” with a patient’s clinical information integrated into pharmacy workflows. This helps to reduce the risk of dosing errors and support timely prescription processing, Verma said.
Budzinski cautioned that the integration of the platform at all medical centers in five years should not be done without fully addressing problems.
“We need to make sure we have a no-fail mindset,” Barrett said.
Oracle is responsible for deploying the system at VA sites, resolving technical issues and working with the VA to improve workflows and reduce errors.
Since 2017, the VA has worked to replace its electronic records system with a modern, commercial platform. The Oracle Health electronic health records system is the same commercial system the Defense Department implemented across the military health system.
“The system is stable. Overall system performance is strong,” Verma said.
