VA and Oracle eye new EHR deployment schedule by next summer
The Department of Veterans Affairs and Oracle leaders provided an update on the paused electronic health records modernization project to the House Appropriations Committee this week, outlining progress and their expectations for when they will develop a new implementation schedule.
WHY IT MATTERS
Workflow reconfigurations will make the VA’s electronic health record system “more intuitive” for providers, Oracle Global Industries EVP Mike Sicilia said as he testified before members of Congress on Wednesday.
Before open discussions about a restart take place, says Dr. Neil Evans, acting program director of the ECtHR Integration Office, the VA needs to see sustainable improvement.
“We are now focused on delivering the improvements needed for current system users, while also setting the enterprise up for future implementation success,” he reported.
On August 31, VA completed its first step for the program reset – the work of “dedicated attention and positive improvements,” addressing necessary system changes, technical stability, improving end-user support and ticketing and more, Evans said.
According to VA leaders and Oracle, more needs to be done to revise implementation planning.
The company is working with the VA to implement 270 workflow reconfigurations during the EHRM reset period and is currently in compliance with all 22 service level agreements. As part of the joint health information exchange requirements, Sicilia said Oracle has delivered a package of upgrades, including pharmacy and other patient safety improvements, to 90% of the VA’s community hospitals.
Comparing the VA’s EHRM project to the Defense Department’s MHS Genesis rollout, he said it was “similarly challenged” in its first two years, “completing only four deployments and then taking a two-year hiatus.” took years to improve governance and refine policy. standard enterprise baseline system.”
The Defense Department then had a repeatable deployment model in place and was subsequently able to roll out its EHR to all domestic facilities in less than four years, he said.
The VA’s ECHR implementation at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in Chicago is the only exception to the complete halt to the VA’s previous rollout schedule. According to Sicilia, it is on track to go live in March 2024.
He said the work for that implementation “will demonstrate that the system is scaled to function properly and conduct operations in complex facilities.”
THE BIG TREND
Earlier this year, the VA halted its planned EHR rollout and struck a new deal with Oracle.
“Overall, this is a much stronger contract, and I am hopeful that it will help VA ensure that Oracle Cerner makes this EHR program work for Washington state providers and veterans,” said U.S. Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and VA Subcommittee, and a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, said of the revised requirements.
The US Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs said this on Tuesday announced it confirmed that Tanya Bradsher is the VA’s deputy secretary — the first woman appointed to the role. Bradsher, who most recently served as VA chief of staff, is charged with leading the agency’s day-to-day operations – including the rollout of the ECtHR.
ON THE RECORD
“Since implementing our technical changes, Oracle’s downtime has been 100% in eleven of the last twelve months,” Sicilia testified before Congress.
Andrea Fox is editor-in-chief of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.