Press Releases

Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.), and Subcommittee on Technology Modernization Chairman Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), issued the following joint statement in response to the announcement from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that they will continue a pause on future deployments of the Oracle Cerner electronic health record system:

“We applaud Secretary McDonough’s responsible decision not to resume implementing the disastrous Oracle Cerner electronic health record at more VA sites. It is abundantly clear to us that the Oracle Cerner EHR system is not ready for prime time, and VA is not ready to carry out this project. Local VA medical center leadership and staff have said so themselves for months,” said Chairmen Bost and Rosendale. “This pause should last as long as it takes for VA and Oracle Cerner to get their houses in order. That may be years, but the delivery of good care and services to veterans depends on it.”

Chairmen Bost and Rosendale continue to press VA on the Oracle Cerner electronic health record system, which has been deployed at 5 VA sites. The system had been slated to roll out to the Saginaw, Michigan VA medical center in June. They most recently introduced legislation (H.R. 592, the EHRM Improvement Act) to block further implementations of the system until the medical centers determine they are well-equipped to receive and use it, without hindering the delivery of care to veterans and hurting productivity. They also introduced legislation (H.R. 608, the EHRM Termination Act) which would end the project altogether if VA and Oracle Cerner are unable to make significant improvements. To learn more about the bills, click here.

The Subcommittee held the first of a series of oversight hearings on the status of the project this Congress and will continue to do so until the health record modernization effort is successful. To view the oversight hearing in full, click here. The Subcommittee’s next hearing, titled, “Electronic Health Record Modernization Deep Dive: Pharmacy” will be held on April 25.