Since striking a partnership with Cerner in 2018 the Department of Veterans Affairs' $16 billion EHR implementation has encountered various delays, but project leaders anticipate the final go-live in about 10 years, according to Federal News Network.
During the publication's recent podcast episode, Cerner Vice President of Government Services Julie Stoner said the initial plan for the project is to deploy the new EHR in nine years and six months across the VA network.
"The biggest lift is kind of landing that enterprise – we're landing, what is it that we want to deploy what makes sense at all VA locations," she said. "And so we've been focused on that and then look forward to going live at the initial sites in the Pacific Northwest so that we can refine those workloads, make sure they really meet the needs, and then begin rolling out. But we're looking at about 10 years."
In February, VA postponed its anticipated March EHR go-live at its first site in Spokane, Wash., because it needed more time to build the system. Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S., the department confirmed in April that it would further delay the project to focus on pandemic response.
On June 3, Politico reported that the VA likely will not deploy the new Cerner EHR system at its first facility until at least this fall.