“The House Appropriations Committee agreed with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) $4.8 billion IT systems budget request for Fiscal Year 2022, but cut $26 million from the VA’s request for funding for its electronic health records (EHR) project.”
“The bill, passed on a vote of 33-24, recommends $4.8 billion in funding for IT systems, matching the FY2022 budget request from the Biden administration. However, that figure does represent a decrease of $69 million compared to FY2021 enacted funding levels.”
“Included in the approved IT funding level is $1.4 billion for staff salaries and associated costs, $3.3 billion for operations and maintenance, and $297 million for development. For the development portion, the bill specifies how the VA should allocate the funding: $69 million for health management platforms; $103 million for clinical applications; $8.6 million for health research and development; $87 million for benefits systems; $11 million for cybersecurity; and $8 million for information/infrastructure management.”
“Also included in the bill is significant funding for the VA’s ongoing EHR modernization efforts. The committee approved $2,637,000,000 in funding for the FY2022 budget, versus the $2,663,000,000 requested by VA. While approved funding marks a $26 million drop from the budget request, but a $10 million increase over FY2021 enacted funding levels.”
“Including in the total funding amount is $1.4 billion for the EHR contract, $276 million for program management, and $943 million for infrastructure support. Due to the uncertainty of the timing of financial obligations for the EHR project, the funding will be made available for three years…” Read the full article here.
Source: House Appropriations Approves VA’s FY22 IT Budget Request, Cuts EHR Request by $26M – By Kate Polit, July 1, 2021. MeriTalk.
