VA EHR Expansion: 13 Facilities by 2026
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has announced plans to accelerate its electronic health record (EHR) modernization efforts, targeting 13 medical facilities for deployment in 2026. This market-based approach to site selection represents a strategic shift in the VA’s implementation timeline, with complete system deployment now projected for 2031.
VA Adopts Market-Based Deployment Strategy
The VA will select nine additional facilities later in 2025, following consultations with regional and local VA medical leaders, clinicians, and EHR vendor Oracle Health. This follows the previously announced restart of deployments at four Michigan VA facilities – Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Detroit, and Saginaw.
“We can and will move faster on this important priority,” stated VA Secretary Doug Collins. “But we’re going to listen to our doctors, nurses, and vendor partners along the way in order to ensure patient safety, quality, and customer service.”
By implementing a market-based approach to site selection, the VA expects to efficiently scale concurrent deployments across its healthcare system.
Cloud Migration Supports Accelerated Timeline
Oracle Health is actively migrating the VA’s EHR system to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), a critical step that will support the department’s expanded deployment goals.
“Oracle Cloud Infrastructure was built with its foundation in scalability and security,” explained Seema Verma, Oracle Health and Oracle Life Sciences Executive Vice President, during her February 19 testimony to lawmakers. “Moving the federal enclave to OCI is underway.”
According to Verma, the initial phase of cloud migration will be completed in 2025, with full migration expected by 2026. Notably, Oracle has committed to handling this transition at its own expense, potentially saving taxpayer dollars while improving system performance.
Ongoing Challenges and Accountability
Despite progress, the VA’s EHR modernization project continues to face scrutiny. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a draft report adding three new recommendations related to cost estimating, scheduling, and system metrics.
Since 2020, the GAO has made 18 recommendations to improve the VA’s EHR implementation, with the VA having implemented only one. “We have multiple recommendations that VA still needs to implement to improve its [EHR] system,” the GAO stated in its report.
System reliability remains a concern. After highlighting more than 200 days without an outage when restarting the program in December, the Oracle Health EHR experienced a new widespread outage on March 5. This disruption affected all six VA medical centers, 26 community clinics, and remote VA sites currently using the system.
Commitment to Integrated Veteran Care
Secretary Collins emphasized the ultimate goal of the EHR modernization: “America’s veterans deserve a medical records system that’s integrated across all VA and DOD components, and that is exactly what we will deliver.”
This integration aims to create seamless healthcare coordination between the Department of Defense and VA health systems, ensuring comprehensive and continuous care for veterans throughout their military and civilian lives.
The ambitious 2031 completion target represents the VA’s commitment to modernizing its healthcare information infrastructure while balancing implementation speed with system reliability and patient safety.
Discover the latest Provider news updates with a single click. Follow DistilINFO HospitalIT and stay ahead with updates. Join our community today!
Leave a Reply