The Department of Veterans Affairs is embarking on major changes next year. It\u2019s looking to get the rocky rollout of a new Electronic Health Record back on track. VA medical facilities already using the system have been beset with problems for years.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the VA is planning to roll out the biggest reorganization of its health care operations in decades. Here\u2019s a look ahead at VA\u2019s plans for 2026.<\/p>\n
VA EHR next steps<\/p>\n
VA is planning for its new EHR from Oracle-Cerner to go live at 13 sites in 2026 \u2014 starting with four sites in Michigan in April 2026.<\/p>\n
Dr. Neil Evans, acting program executive director of VA\u2019s Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office, told the technology modernization subcommittee<\/a> of the House VA Committee that, based on lessons learned from previous go-lives, multiple sites will go live \u201csimultaneously in each deployment wave.\u201d<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n \u201cThis approach allows us to scale up the number of deployments, enhance efficiencies and improve the sharing of best practices within and between markets,\u201d Evans said in a Dec. 15 hearing.<\/p>\n Carol Harris, the director of IT and cybersecurity issues at the Government Accountability Office, told lawmakers it would be \u201cvery risky\u201d for VA to plan for simultaneous EHR go-lives.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to take a tremendous amount of resources that I\u2019m not quite sure is sustainable for multiple sites at once,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n Status of EHR rollout so far <\/p>\n VA\u2019s new EHR is currently running at six sites. Full deployment would bring the EHR to 170 sites. According to Evans, the department currently expects to complete the deployment as soon as 2031.<\/p>\n The VA has been in a \u201creset\u201d period since April 2023, and paused new go lives until the department addresses persistent outages and usability issues reported by VA medical staff at sites already using the new EHR.<\/p>\n A GAO report in March<\/a> found that only 13% of VA staff using the new Oracle-Cerner EHR believed that the modernized system made VA as efficient as possible, and 58% of users believed the new system increased patient safety risks.<\/p>\n Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.), chairman of the technology modernization subcommittee, said the project\u2019s lifecycle cost has grown to about $37 billion.<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n \u201cThis timeline is locked in, and the countdown is on. But the question remains: When the switch is flipped in April, will the system deliver, and will it do what we need it to do? Are we going to run into snags like we have in the past? For millions of veterans relying on VA hospitals and staff supporting them, this is not something that is theoretical. It\u2019s real. It\u2019s happening and we have to do it right,\u201d Barrett said.<\/p>\n Subcommittee ranking member Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.) said what she has heard from VA and Oracle this year \u201chas not convinced me that VA is ready for launch at 13 facilities in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have raised many questions with VA and Oracle. But the answers do not give me confidence. In fact, I worry that we are spending billions of dollars while simultaneously setting this program, particularly the six sites that are already live, up for failure,\u201d Budzinski said.<\/p>\n Reaction from the Senate <\/p>\n Senate Democrats are also wary about VA\u2019s EHR rollout plans. In a letter<\/a> to VA Secretary Doug Collins, Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said they have \u201cserious concerns\u201d that EHR problems flagged by GAO and the VA inspector general\u2019s office have not been fully addressed<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we should always strive to innovate and improve the quality of care for veterans, in practice, the rollout of EHRM has been so problematic that it created life-threatening problems and ongoing upheaval for veterans\u2019 ability to get the health care they need,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n New VHA leader & VA reorganization plans<\/p>\n Last week, the Senate confirmed John Bartrum, a former senior advisor to Collins, will serve as VA\u2019s under secretary for health.<\/p>\n Bartrum, a combat veteran with more than 40 years of active-duty and reserve military service, previously oversaw policy and funding at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n The VA earlier this week announced its intent to\u00a0reorganize the Veterans Health Administration.<\/a><\/p>\n Collins said in a statement that VHA\u2019s current leadership structure \u201cis riddled with redundancies that slow decision making, sow confusion and create competing priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n ]]><\/p>\n VA says the changes aren\u2019t expected to result in a significant change in overall staffing levels. But the\u00a0Washington Post first reported<\/a>\u00a0that the VA no longer plans to fill tens of thousands of vacant health care positions.<\/p>\n The VA says it\u2019s briefed lawmakers on the reorganization, and that implementation will take place over the next 18-24 months.<\/p>\n Rather than pursue a reduction in force of\u00a0more than 80,000 employees<\/a>, as it had considered earlier this year, the VA shed more than 30,000 positions<\/a>\u00a0through attrition in fiscal 2025.<\/p>\n