Inside the bipartisan backlash to the $27 billion VA-Oracle EHRM contract blindsiding Congress – FedScoop

Inside the bipartisan backlash to the $27 billion VA-Oracle EHRM contract blindsiding Congress  FedScoop

Billions of dollars, dozens of hearings, three administrations and no answers. On the VA’s fourth attempt to modernize electronic health records, Congress says “enough.” On its fourth attempt in two decades, with billions of dollars spent and at least 50 congressional meetings held across three administrations, the Department of Veterans Affairs still has not completed the rollout of its electronic health record modernization — and it just added more time and money to the project. Despite recent victories touted by Secretary Doug Collins and Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence, nobody outside the VA and its contractor, Oracle Health, can say how the update is truly going. Watchdogs and lawmakers continue to express concern about cost and oversight of the project to bring millions of veterans’ health records into the modern age.

VA first struck a $10 billion contract with digital health developer Cerner in 2018, a company acquired by Oracle in 2022, before pausing all work in 2023 following a rocky rollout to renegotiate the contract. Now, what was once stop-and-go is full speed ahead as the VA works toward fully modernizing the EHR by 2031, with 19 sites completed by the end of this year — and a ballooning new price tag. Last month, the multi-year contract increased its ceiling to $27 billion without widespread knowledge in Congress — the