The Department of Veterans' Affairs' transition to a Cerner EHR system will allow the agency to move forward from cybersecurity issues it previously dealt with legacy IT systems, according to VA Chief Information Security Officer Paul Cunningham, Federal News Network reports.
The VA signed a contract with Cerner in May 2018, which is now worth $16 billion, to develop and deploy an EHR across its care network. Cerner is also collaborating with the Department of Defense on an EHR system that will be interoperable with the VA's. Establishing the new EHRs will allow the departments to reinvent their cybersecurity standards.
"This is a good chance for us to get that fresh whiteboard — to sit down and do security right," Mr. Cunningham said, according to the report. "A lot of times, we inherit old, legacy systems. We have to bolt the security on and modify the security over the years. Certainly, that's been the way, over the last 20 years, with our medical records."