On May 14, leaders from both the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs committees jointly introduced a legislative package that includes additional scrutiny of the VA's Oracle Health EHR rollout, Nextgov reported May 15.
Despite the VA's efforts to deploy its new Oracle Health EHR system at its medical facilities across the county, the effort has been plagued by technical issues and cost overruns.
The Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act, introduced by Rep. Juan Ciscomani, D-Ariz., and supported by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., looks to address challenges with the VA's modernization of its EHR system.
For example, the new legislation aims to enhance oversight by expanding quarterly reporting to Congress, including metrics on user adoption, employee satisfaction and facility readiness. It also proposes limiting new rollouts until existing issues are resolved and sets a sunset provision if improvements aren't seen within two years.
Additionally, it requires VA to report annually on the maintenance and costs of its legacy EHR system, VistA.
In 2018, VA signed a five-year contract with Cerner, now known as Oracle Health, to modernize its legacy EHR system. The EHR system, which has been rolled out at six VA medical facilities, was paused in 2023 due to various issues with the system.