“The Department of Veterans Affairs has decided once again to pause the initial rollout of its multi-billion dollar electronic health record, as the agency focuses on fighting the coronavirus pandemic.”
“VA holds dual responsibilities during a pandemic like this one — caring for veterans and backing up overwhelmed civilian health systems…”
“’With VA medical centers reallocating staff to manage veteran patients with COVID-19, I directed the Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization (OEHRM) to immediately shift to a non-intrusive posture with VA health care operations to allow our frontline clinicians to focus on veteran care,’ Secretary Robert Wilkie said last Friday in a letter addressed to congressional leaders.”
“VA was originally scheduled to roll out an initial set of EHR capabilities in March at the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Washington, but development delays pushed the timeline back to July.”
“Now the pandemic has paused those plans indefinitely, and there is no new timeline for the initial rollout in Spokane, according to a source briefed on the VA’s next steps.”
“Much of the software development work is complete at Mann-Grandstaff, with 72 out 73 interfaces finished and ready for testing, Wilkie said…”
“The pandemic has also forced VA to delay the implementation of Cerner’s scheduling system, which the department had planned to roll out to VA’s medical center in Columbus, Ohio.”
“The department believed it was on track to deploy the new scheduling solution before the pandemic, but training on the system stopped in March, according to the source…”
“There is no new timeline for deployment of Cerner’s centralizing scheduling system (CSS) in Columbus or any of VA’s other sites, the source said.”
“However, VA and the Defense Department are on track to activate the Joint Health Information Exchange at the end of this month, Wilkie said…”
“The EHR delay comes as VA balances its coronavirus response with more leadership changes…” Read the full article here.
Source: No new timeline for VA EHR rollout after coronavirus forces another pause – By Nicole Ogrysko, April 10, 2020. Federal News Network.
