The Department of Veterans Affairs is preparing to restart deployments of its new Oracle-Cerner electronic health record in April, when four Michigan facilities — Detroit, Saginaw, Ann Arbor and Battle Creek — go live.
The move will mark the end of a three-year pause aimed at resolving system outages, performance issues and patient safety concerns, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.
Other planned deployments are scheduled for Ohio and Kentucky sites in June, Indiana facilities in August, and medical centers in Cleveland, Ohio, and Anchorage, Alaska, in October.
VA halted new deployments in April 2023 to stabilize sites already operating on the system. According to VA Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence, facilities currently using the new EHR are returning to pre-deployment productivity levels, with some already meeting that benchmark.
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What Is Different About the Upcoming Oracle-Cerner EHR Rollout?
Unlike earlier deployments, VA plans to implement the system in geographic waves, moving region by region rather than launching at isolated facilities nationwide. Lawrence said the “market approach” avoids having neighboring sites operate on different record systems.
He shared that the department is increasing staffing and deploying vendor support teams to upcoming go-live locations to accelerate operational recovery.
How Are Lawmakers and Watchdogs Responding to the EHR Rollout?
The reboot comes amid continued scrutiny. Lawmakers have cited the program’s rising lifecycle cost — estimated at roughly $37 billion — and raised concerns about whether past technical and safety issues have been fully addressed.
VA’s Office of Inspector General has documented hundreds of major performance incidents since launch, while a 2025 Government Accountability Office survey found low user confidence and lingering patient safety concerns among staff at early-adopter sites.
According to Lawrence, the department has addressed root causes tied to prior deployments, including workflow standardization and training gaps, expressing confidence that the 2026 schedule will move forward as planned.
How Does the EHR Rollout Relate to VA’s AI and Modernization Strategy?
The EHR restart aligns with VA’s broader modernization push. The department recently announced a $4.8 billion fiscal year 2026 investment in healthcare infrastructure, including $1 billion for EHR modernization.
VA’s latest AI inventory also highlights initiatives tied to EHR optimization, including a pre-deployment clinical AI agent intended to reduce documentation burdens and support workflow efficiency. VA’s AI strategy, released in October, states that early AI use cases will inform how advanced capabilities are integrated into the modernized record system.
Full EHR deployment across 170 sites is currently projected to conclude as early as 2031.
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