New Congress, new hearings of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization on the EHRM, and a new chairman. Rep. Tom Barrett’s (R-Mich. 7th CD) opening remarks for the 24 February were more than an introduction of him as a new Congressman and subcommittee chairman. He is a 22-year Army veteran, a patient of the Battle Creek MI Medical Center, and had used the Montgomery GI Bill to pay for his college education. What he was less than sanguine about was the Oracle Cerner EHR–the problems, the budget, and the timing for the restart.
It’s seven years into VA’s original 10-year contract with Cerner, then Oracle. The implementation is in less than 4% of VA’s medical centers–only six including the joint MHS-VA Lovell Medical Center in Chicago. The contract in May 2023 was modified to five years of annual renewals expiring in May 2028. Rep. Barrett questions whether all the problems have been fixed or on the way to be fixed in order to meet the previous VA Secretary, Denis McDonough’s pronouncement last year that the VA would restart the Oracle implementation in spring 2026 [TTA 18 Dec 2024–the original statement was within FY 2025].
Two more open questions are cost and timing. Congress has no current schedule, nor a cost estimate for the entire project. The last independent cost estimate is three years old and $32.7 billion–more than double the original estimate of $16 billion.
The hearing confirmed that the homework is not done yet and not ready to be turned in. During the hearing, the committee pressed VA about both those issues. The Government Accountability Office (GAO)’s Information Technology and Cybersecurity Director Carol Harris cited another estimate above $50 billion, which was contested by Oracle Health’s EVP, Seema Verma (former CMS Administrator during Trump 45), who believes that with the progress made during the hiatus, that the costs would be less. But Neil Evans, the acting program executive director of the EHRM Office, stated that the implementation would not be completed by the contract end in May 2028. Moreover, the EHRM Office still has to develop a detailed integrated master schedule and updated life cycle cost estimate. Both were emphasized as needed by acting VA Inspector General David Case. A hearing with few revelations other than VA and Oracle need to get a move on. House Committee press release, NextGov/FCW The full two-hour hearing is on YouTube here.
Leave a Reply