House lawmakers have introduced a bill giving the Department of Veterans Affairs and Oracle Cerner 180 days to fix the troubled EHR system at five VA facilities, or legislators will consider terminating the project, FedScoop reported April 25.
If the bill is passed into law, the VA and Oracle Cerner would have to do the following:
- The five VA medical centers using the Oracle Cerner EHR would have to meet or exceed performance levels before the system can go live at any other facilities.
- If the VA and Oracle Cerner cannot meet the performance requirements for the five medical sites within 180 days after enactment of the bill, the legislation would begin to consider terminating or canceling the $10 billion contract with Oracle Cerner.
- Restrict the monetization or selling of patients' data by any internal or external entity working for the VA.
- Establish a new management program within the Veterans Health Administration.
- Reorganize the VA's current management for the EHR rollout.
The new bill comes shortly after the VA said it would halt further deployments of the new EHR system until it can address problems with the system at facilities already using it.