“Amid a strategic review of the deployment of its new Electronic Health Record (EHR) system, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) officials told Congress on April 14 that the agency will not begin EHR system deployment at a second VA site until the current strategic review is completed.”
“At the same time, VA officials expressed confidence at a hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Committee that finances for the EHR system rollout are in good shape.”
“Committee members voiced concerns at the hearing about the EHR system rollout rate compared to the amount of the project’s budget that has already been spent or committed. The system is up and running at only one VA site currently, and needs to be deployed at another 169 sites before 2028…”
“The price tag for the program is $10 billion over 10 years, but some members of Congress have expressed concern that three years into the implementation VA officials say they have spent $2.6 billion of the $3.8 billion that has already been obligated to the program.”
“Responding to those concerns, VA officials said this week they believe they will be able to complete the program within budget.”
“’Our expense rate is far slower than our obligation rate because we don’t pay the bill … until the work is done,’ Executive Director of the VA’s Office of EHR Modernization John Windom said Wednesday. ‘So, we feel good about the rate of expense, relative to obligation, because the work has to be done for us to authorize payments…’” Read the full article here.
Source: Amid EHR Rollout Pause, VA Officials Confident in Program’s Financial Performance — By Lamar Johnson, April 15, 2021. MeriTalk.
