The Department of Veterans Affairs has postponed the rollout of its Oracle Cerner EHR modernization program indefinitely for the Boise (Idaho) VA Medical Center and other centers, FedScoop reported July 21.
Due to long-identified issues with the program's reliability and safety, the EHR rollout will be delayed from its original estimates by at least one to two years.
During a Senate hearing, a top VA executive said the rollout is far behind where it was expected to be.
"It is a struggle, we are looking for ways we can achieve efficiencies and get the system to a place where core EHR and management activities can be taken across enterprise systems in waves much more quickly," said Terry Adirim, executive director of the Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office at the VA. "Clearly we're not there yet, we're still just in an initial operating capability trying to make all the changes and enhancements to do that."
The modernization program, which already has a $16 billion price tag, could triple due to delayed installations.