TTA’s August Ice Cream Run 2: Oracle talks layoffs (again) and VA extends EHRM contract; OpenAI sued for ‘doctoring’; big vendor data breach; med drone delivery; and a tart take on AI Copy Slop

August 14, 2026 | by | No Comments

14-17 August 2026

Still in the ‘dog days’ of August weather, despite the back to school and Halloween (!) stuff in the stores. We should enjoy our last days of ‘traditional’ summer (versus ‘local’ or ‘smart’ summer) but the merchers won’t let us. In other news, there was a lot of news around Oracle Health this week, from pending layoffs to the VA extending its contract to 2031. We also have our (likely first, but not last) lawsuit claiming OpenAI doctoring harmed a ‘patient’, meds and supplies delivered by drone, a big vendor data breach, affordable hearing assistance, and yet another likely spinoff. And on the hot subject of AI writing and AI Copy Slop, your Editor has more than a few thoughts after reading an excellent article by Alys Denby. Grab the cuppa for this one. Or you’ll faint like Pepper!

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Why Readers can be assured that TTA is 100% Written by Humans

News potpourri: OpenAI sued for practicing unlicensed medicine”, Cleveland Clinic med drone delivery, Solventum separates out health info systems, Unlimited Technology RCM in 3.8M data breach, Samsung Galaxy Buds FDA cleared for hearing assist

VA moves to secure Oracle for its EHR Modernization through mid-2031 (More reasons beyond the obvious)

Breaking report: Oracle drawing up plans to lay off employees in “double digit percentages” by 1 September

Last week’s headlines

News roundup #2: Function Health’s jumbo $450M raise from General Catalyst, Hinge Health’s $105M Cylinder buy, and Throne Science’s $10M Series A

News roundup #1: AI governance ‘in’ with Feds, ATA; Centene’s shrinking but more profitable future; repositions and partnerships for DispatchHealth, WHOOP; Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand modernization

Recent Headlines and Must Reads

Chutes & Ladders, Oracle Edition: Surprise! Project Jupiter data center build overages, “social costs” multiply. Pentagon inks $7B, 10 year deal for software.

Catching up to Masimo’s ‘unfinished’ business: Danaher completes $9.9B acquisition of Masimo. $634 million damages from Apple upheld, but Kiani lawsuits continue

This week’s Must Read: the dangerous financing of AI data center buildouts–and how they resemble the 2020 health tech boom (Remember the SPAC boom that cracked and left nearly all companies and billions in the dust?)

A gloomy view on Oracle going forward: debt, cash flow, and dependence on OpenAI

Vinegary Must Reads This Week: Silicon Valley’s ‘Cargo Culture’; the clinical query tool explosion between OpenEvidence and general AI

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VA moves to secure Oracle for its EHR Modernization through mid-2031

August 12, 2026 | by | No Comments

It’s an extension that likely has a very good and smart reason behind it. This short article in a specialized Federal services publication, OrangeSlices PBC (public benefit corporation), that broke the story early AM today (12 Aug), has a few tidbits that anyone who is following the VA’s EHRM will find of interest. 

The first is the three-year extension of the current VA contract 36C10B18D5000, the Electronic Health Record Modernization Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract with Oracle Health Government Services, the successor to Cerner Government Services. The proposed Modification P00008 to the IDIQ contract adds another three one-year optional periods, taking the duration out to May 2031.

Some history is in order here.

  • The contract originally had a base period of 10 years starting in May 2018 with a value of $10 billion, later revised upwards to $16 billion.
  • It was rewritten and renegotiated in early 2023 after the failure of the initial five-location rollout. The ten-year base period was halved to five years, ending in 2023, with a renewal instead of five successive one-year optional ordering periods ending in May 2028.
  • This renewal took place only after much debate, a hail of flak from both the House and Senate Veterans Affairs’ full committees and tech subcommittees, and calls to dump Oracle and start all over again. The contract redo was designed to bring Oracle to heel.  It subjected both Oracle and the VA to lengthy accountability metrics that culminated in multiple modifications and testing. [TTA 18 May 2023]
  • The EHRM rollout was radically modified by geography to VA Health Centers mostly within the same VA region, or VISN, then with additional implementations every two months. The rollout resumed in April 2026, with five more locations added in August and October to complete 13 for 2026 and another 27 in 2027. [TTA 8 Feb and the updated VA rollout schedule]

The three-year extension brings the contract to the projected final VA rollout and conclusion in 2031. According to the article, 36 sites are scheduled to go live between August 2026 and January 2028. Subtracting 2026 (5) and 2027 (27), that leaves four in 2028 before the contract’s original expiration. There are at least another 120 to be covered within VA’s existing VISNs.

The contract modification has an anticipated award date of on or about 17 August 2026. SAM.gov (published Tuesday 11 Aug)

The second is why this three-year extension is a very smart move on the VA EHRM team’s part.

  • The obvious one is that the VA EHRM rollout requires another three years from 2028 to 2031 to fully cover all locations. Apparently all is going smoothly but releasing the main single-source contractor three years prior to its finalization is not an intelligent move.
  • The other is protection. Now you won’t read this elsewhere. Since the late winter, Oracle was rumored to be interested in selling, wholly or in part, Oracle Health AI (OHAI). Oracle Health sale rumors were confirmed this summer. In the event of a sale, the buyer would be obligated to honor the VA contracts and its terms.
  • The other possibility is if something truly awful happens to Oracle as a result of their AI landlord strategy, such as bankruptcy, the VA has some contractual protection in a Federal court. 

Whether Oracle can even sell OHAI is an open question. But for VA to tighten the contract to confirm an obligation to continue the VA EHRM to the end (or near end) is commendably businesslike–to not leave the VA and our veterans who served in the lurch with their medical records, scheduling, research, and much more. That would be unacceptable.

Update: Just posted in NextGov/FCW and FedScoop. The last notes that the House-passed fiscal 2027 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill would give $3.4 million for EHRM.