The Department of Veterans Affairs has suspended the rollout of its new multi billion-dollar electronic health records system until June 2023 to allow more time to overcome recurring problems with the computer program at several hospitals across the country, agency officials announced Thursday.
The VA had originally scheduled to launch the new records system in July at the Boise VA Medical Center but moved it to 2023 after the VA inspector general released a report that revealed the system caused harm to 149 VA patients.
The VA originally signed a $10 billion contract with Cerner in May 2018 to overhaul the agency’s health records system and make it compatible with the Defense Department’s system. However, the cost of the project later increased to about $16 billion.
Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois, the top Republican on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said the new electronic health record should not be rolled out anywhere else until Oracle Cerner fixes its problems.