Trump pick for VA secretary promises to prioritize Oracle EHR deployment

Doug Collins, a former Republican congressman from Georgia, told lawmakers he would look at the embattled rollout with fresh eyes and could restart deployments sooner than planned.

Article By: Emily Olsen

Blog Source From : https://www.healthcaredive.com/

Dive Brief:

• President Donald Trump’s pick to head up the Department of Veterans Affairs told lawmakers this week he’ll prioritize the agency’s embattled rollout of a new electronic health record if confirmed to the role. 
• Nominee Doug Collins said during a Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs hearing on Tuesday that he planned to look at EHR deployments with fresh eyes if he takes up the post — and potentially restart the rollout sooner than the Biden administration had planned. “There’s no reason in the world we cannot get this done,” he said.
• EHR vendor Cerner — later acquired by technology giant Oracle — received a contract to modernize the VA’s health record system in 2018. The project has since faced years of technical problems and errors linked to patient harm, leading the VA to largely halt new deployments in 2023.

Dive Insight:

If confirmed, Collins, a former Republican congressman from Georgia, Navy veteran and Air Force Reserve chaplain, will take on an EHR modernization project that’s long been criticized by lawmakers for ballooning costs and patient safety concerns. 

Only six VA medical centers are currently live with the Oracle EHR, more than four years after the first facility deployed the record in October 2020. Multiple reports by the VA’s Office of Inspector General have scrutinized errors with the record system, including a problem that may have contributed to a patient’s death. 

“The implementation of the electronic health record is a bipartisan, multi-administration disaster,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., during the hearing. The committee advanced Collins’ nomination on Thursday for a vote on the Senate floor.

Collins agreed that the modernization program has lasted for too long and cost too much money, noting that the department has to adopt the new EHR in part to ensure service members can easily transition into VA care once they exit active duty. 

During the hearing, Collins said he plans to review the project, bringing both Oracle and VA staff — including clinicians —to the table to hash out issues. 

Collins also said he would consider restarting new deployments sooner than planned. The VA said in late December it was taking steps to deploy the record system at four Michigan facilities in mid-2026 after the agency halted most rollouts in April 2023 to focus on system improvements.

“I believe that we can do it and do it properly, not rushed,” Collins said. “There’s enough information there that I believe we can actually get it done quicker, but it’s going to take looking at.”