The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to roll out a new patient portal alongside its current solution MyHealtheVet once it deploys its new Cerner EHR at the end of the month, according to an Oct. 1 FCW report.
At a Sept. 30 Subcommittee on Technology Modernization of the House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, VA's EHR modernization office Executive Director John Windom said Cerner's solution will be run alongside VA's current patient portal as part of the Oct. 24 EHR go-live at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Wash.
If VA were to not deploy the new patient portal, it would face an additional $60 million to $300 million in project costs. The department's Cerner EHR project is priced at $16 billion, and Mr. Windom said replacing MyHealtheVet is "not in the scope" of its contract with the Kansas City, Mo.-based vendor. "We are not funded to replace MyHealtheVet," he said. "We have estimates in order to make modifications to MyHealtheVet as being discussed, and they range from $60 million to $300 million. That's not in scope."
VA plans to run the two portals in parallel, with the Spokane-based veterans defaulting to the new Cerner portal after the go-live and other veterans continuing to use the MyHealtheVet system.