Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center, a Spokane, Wash.-based VA hospital that has struggled with the rollout of its Cerner EHR, was recognized by the VA as making the biggest improvement in patient satisfaction among VA hospitals for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, The Spokesman-Review reported Oct. 31.
The hospital launched the Oracle Cerner system in October 2020. In June 2023, Mann-Grandstaff Director Robert Fisher, MD, reported that the hospital had spent $38 billion over budget, with much of the new spending attributed to the Cerner install. The VA stepped in to provide funding and ensure that the hospital would not lay off workers.
The Cerner rollout process made the hospital's staff come together "like a special forces team," Brian Gavron, MD, chief of acute care services at Mann-Grandstaff, told the Review. The VA is looking to resume the wider rollout of the Cerner EHR system in the summer of 2024.