More than 18 months after the Veterans Administration halted new deployments of its Oracle electronic health records system to make critical improvements to the EHR and improve patient safety at five VA health systems, the agency announced Friday that it is suspending the trust of veterans and improved physician satisfaction.
It has been more than 200 days since the last outage, the VA said.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
The agency said that during the reset period of the EHR modernization program, it reviewed errors and worked with Oracle officials on hundreds of system improvements, updating contracts to hold the company accountable – including monetary credits for failure to meet key performance accountability metrics – and a new process to address systemic issues as they arise.
As a result of its efforts, the agency is ready to begin planning new deployments in 2026, VA Assistant Secretary Tanya Bradsher said in a statement.
According to the agency, veteran outpatient trust scores have increased at all VA locations running the Oracle Health EHR since the start of the EHR modernization reset period.
In April 2023, VA Secretary Denis McDonough announced a “complete freeze on all planned deployments” of the Oracle Health EHR to focus on resolving issues identified at five locations using it – Spokane VA Health Care System , VA Walla Walla Health Care, Roseburg VA Healthcare System, VA Southern Oregon Healthcare and VA Central Ohio Healthcare System.
Comparing results from direct surveys of veterans conducted in the first quarter of last year, the VA said veterans’ trust scores increased across all EHR sites.
Scores reached 93% at Columbus VA, part of the Central Ohio Healthcare System, marking an increase of 11.6%; 88% at Walla Walla VA with a 4% increase; 92% at Mann-Grandstaff VA in Spokane, Washington, up 3.5%; 85% in Roseburg with an increase of 5.2% and 89% in White City VA, part of the VA Southern Oregon Healthcare System, with an increase of 6.5%.
The VA also said EHR outages have decreased significantly, with the system functioning 100% of the time for 10 of the past 16 months and 99.8% of the rest of the time. The agency said the average daily EHR user there now experiences no system outages — which the agency says means minimal care delays for veterans.
While veteran outpatient trust scores at Captain James A. Lovell Federal Healthcare Center in Chicago showed a marginal increase from 90.2% to 90.8%, the agency called the launch of Oracle Health EHR earlier this year a success that surpassed all five previous deployments.
The VA and Department of Defense integrated health system was a planned exception to the pause on the beleaguered EHR modernization program.
With the new EHR, the Chicago VA health care system quickly increased productivity, the VA said in the announcement.
THE BIG TREND
In April, McDonough told the House VA Committee in an update on the program reset that he expected to have discussions about scheduling go-lives in 2025 before the end of the year.
Then in September, the VA’s Office of Inspector General said it had determined that the VA and Oracle Health were not coordinated in their responses to system outages.
In its audit report, the watchdog agency cited a lack of consistent response standards and weaknesses in several controls that regulate configuration management and monitoring. OIG said action is still needed to prevent some EHR failures and limit risks to veterans in the VA’s care.
In November, President-elect Donald J. Trump nominated former Rep. Doug Collins, a Republican from Georgia, as his administration’s VA secretary.
“We will fight tirelessly to streamline and reduce regulations in the VA, root out corruption and ensure every veteran receives the benefits they have earned,” Collins said on social media. “Together we will make the VA work for those who fought for us.”
ON THE RECORD
“We paused EHR implementation for over a year and a half to listen to veterans and physicians, understand the issues and make improvements to the system,” Bradsher said in a statement. “As a result of these efforts, veterans’ confidence and system performance has improved across the board.”
Andrea Fox is editor-in-chief of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.