Senators push Oracle for documents and emails about multibillion-dollar increase for VA health records project

WASHINGTON — Democrats and independent members of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee are demanding that Oracle executives turn over all documents, communications and evidence supporting a $17 billion increase in its contract to overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs patient health records system.

Led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the senators sent a letter this week to Oracle founder Larry Ellison and chief executive officer Mike Sicilia seeking the requested materials and an explanation for the “unanticipated complexities” that the software company said it has encountered with the multiyear project, which is now scheduled to be completed by 2031.

The senators also urged Republican leadership on the Senate VA Committee to immediately schedule an oversight hearing to examine the project’s costs and challenges.

The actions by the senators followed a unanimous vote by the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee this month to subpoena Oracle executives to testify before the panel about overruns and obstacles to implementing the new health records system across the VA’s network of hospitals and clinics.

“Oracle has a responsibility to deliver a functioning electronic health records management system to veterans, yet there have been years of delays and ballooning costs under your leadership,” the senators wrote in the Sept. 23 letter.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Sen. Patty Murray, D.-Wash.; Sen. Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii; Sen. Angus King, I-Maine; and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., joined Blumenthal in signing the letter.

Blumenthal is the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate VA committee; the others are committee members.

In the letter, the senators castigated Oracle executives for missing a scheduled hearing on Sept. 2 before the House VA Committee to provide testimony under oath about the company’s progress in implementing the medical records system.

“Given your absence from the oversight hearing, the House Committee subsequently voted 19-0 to subpoena you to explain the status of the project and excessive costs. We support this subpoena and expect you to comply with it,” the senators wrote.

Known as the EHRM, the new electronic health records management system — which records, tracks and stores a patient’s medical history — has been deployed at only 14 of 164 VA hospitals.

The original contract with the VA was $10 billion. The modified contract is $27 billion, according to a federal notice published on Sam.gov, by the VA technology acquisition center.

Oracle took over the project when it acquired Cerner, the original vendor, in 2022.

But in 2023, the update was paused for 18 months because of technical glitches, system outages and concerns over patient care.

The senators also sent a separate letter this week to Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., chairman of the Senate VA Committee, asking him to schedule an oversight hearing to examine the project’s rising costs and delays.

“Given the scale of federal investment in this program and, more importantly, the risks it poses to the health and safety of the veterans who rely on VA care, we believe the Committee has a responsibility to conduct rigorous oversight at this juncture,” the letter said.