VA Restarts Cerner EHR Modernization Project
After delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has revised its previous schedule to convert facilities to its new electronic health record (EHR) capabilities with updated timelines for the first deployment in Spokane, Wash.
According to department officials in a recent press release announcement, VA’s Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization (OEHRM) has also reengaged with the VA Central Ohio Healthcare System in Columbus to launch a new patient scheduling system in August, while resuming activities at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center (VAMC) in Spokane, working toward an October implementation of the department’s new EHR.
The effort in Washington State is part of the VA’s initiative to replace the department’s 40-year-old legacy EHR system, the Veterans Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA), by adopting the same platform as the DOD, a Cerner EHR system. The contract between the VA and Cerner, signed in May 2018, started with a $10 billion price tag, but recent estimates have pushed that up to over $16 billion.
But both the VA’s modernized health records platform, as well as the DOD’s new EHR system, MHS Genesis, have had their rollouts delayed due to the pandemic. The implementation of the MHS Genesis platform began at DOD sites in 2017. Mann-Grandstaff was scheduled to be the first Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical center to implement the new EHR system with an initial go-live date of March 28, 2020. On February 10, the facility’s go-live date was postponed.
The new timeline, officials say, will preserve the 10-year implementation schedule and the overall cost estimates of VA’s EHR modernization program. After the conversion at these sites, VA will bring other select facilities forward in the timeline.
The department will also deploy the new EHR solution at select Midwest facilities that feature a balance of small, medium and large sites in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan.
In April, two reports from the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) highlighted some potential patient safety risks from the transition to the new EHR system at Mann-Grandstaff, as well as some deficiencies in infrastructure readiness for deploying the new system.
Beyond COVID-19, “the VA strategy will remain flexible and agile while continuing to consider other factors that might require modifications to the order of facilities that will implement the new EHR solution,” officials stated.
VA Secretary Robert Wilkie noted in a statement, “After a period of delay during which VAMCs focused on their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are pleased to have our Electronic Health Record Modernization team resume activities with our facilities to move forward with a program that will transform VA and enhance veteran care. As we implement the new EHR solution at these facilities, we will continue to prioritize the safety of our Veterans and our staff by following guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
Last month, the VA launched the Veterans Data Integration and Federation Enterprise Platform (VDIF EP), which officials say will produce a longitudinal patient record by aggregating and normalizing clinical data across its existing EHR systems. Based on InterSystems HealthShare technology, VDIF aggregates and normalizes data from 130 different EMR instances supporting 172 VA medical centers and 1,074 outpatient clinics, according to officials. With VDIF, veterans’ longitudinal patient records are available to providers within VHA, as well as to external providers delivering care to veterans, they added.
