A new COVID-19 outbreak at a local veterans home in Spokane, Wash., may cause the Department of Veterans Affairs to further delay its Cerner EHR rollout to the fall, according to Politco.
Two congressional sources told the publication June 3 that the $16 billion EHR project likely will not be ready for implementation "until fall at earliest," while a third source close to the project said VA officials have been prioritizing their COVID-19 response and have not made a decision on delaying the project. A VA spokesperson told Politico the department does not have any scheduling announcements.
On April 3, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie confirmed the VA would delay the project due to the pandemic. The announcement followed a string of previous delays. The department was initially scheduled to deploy the new Cerner EHR at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Wash., on March 28, but in February pushed back the go-live because it needed more time to finish building the system. At that time, the department rescheduled to deploy in July.
The new COVID-19 hot zone at the veterans home "pushed patients into the [Spokane] medical center, which will likely pose delays to the project," according to the report. The rollout could be postponed now until 2021.
Despite the delays, project developers have made progress with some project aspects, including finishing an online prescription refill feature which will now be available once the implementation begins.