The Department of Veterans Affairs has further delayed from January to June 2023 the upcoming deployments of the Oracle Cerner electronic health record system to review and address technical and system performance issues facing VA health care personnel and veterans.
Some of the additional concerns identified are problems with patient scheduling, medication management and referrals and latency and slowness, VA said Thursday.
“We are delaying all future deployments of the new EHR while we fully assess performance and address every concern. Veterans and clinicians deserve a seamless, modernized health record system, and we will not rest until they get it,” said Donald Remy, deputy secretary of VA.
VA said it will continue to work with Oracle Cerner to address issues with the EHR system before resuming deployments at other medical centers, including those that may have implications for patient safety.
As it implements the “assess and address plan,” the department will continue to monitor the five VA facilities where the new EHR system has already been fielded to ensure that the platform is running smoothly in support of veterans.
In 2018, Cerner, which is now part of Oracle following its acquisition in June, received a potential $10 billion contract to help VA replace its Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture with a modernized EHR system that integrates with that of the Department of Defense.