During the committee’s first oversight hearing of the 118th Congress, Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif.—the panel’s ranking member—used his opening remarks to underscore that “the EHR modernization program is on its fourth director in five years, and continues to burn money and disrupt care.” …

Democrats have criticized the EHR system’s deployment, but have largely refrained from calling for an end to VA’s modernization project. Takano previously voiced opposition to “completely canceling the EHR program without a viable solution to replace it,” and committee Democrats are reportedly working to draft a “comprehensive” bill to revamp the system’s rollout.

The VA, for its part, is continuing to move forward with plans to deploy the new EHR system, despite ongoing delays and operational setbacks…

In written testimony submitted to the committee, Dr. Shereef Elnahal—VA’s undersecretary for health—said the department “is committed to continuous improvement of the electronic health record and associated health information technologies, even while executing ongoing deployments across the health care system in the years to come.” … Read the full article here.