John Plahovinsak
On March 31, 2025, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that the Cincinnati VA Medical Center and the Cincinnati VA Medical Center at Fort Thomas (Kentucky) will be among thirteen (13) sites targeted to receive the new electronic health records (EHR) system.
These thirteen (13) sites were selected after the VA Secretary Doug Collins announced plans to accelerate deployment of the Oracle Millennium EHR System. This system is only in operation at six (6) of VA’s 170 medical locations.
According to the VA, officials from Oracle, local and regional leaders helped to select the next deployment targets. Four (4) VA sites in Michigan would start first in 2026 and be followed by VA sites in Ohio, Indiana, and Alaska.
VA officials anticipated full implementation of the new health records system to be completed at every VA facility by early 2031, four years behind the original schedule.
The EHR project was started in 2017 and was designed to merge military files with veterans’ health records for the first time. In 2018, the VA joined with Cerner, (now part of Oracle), to continue to develop the EHR system.
The EHR program was first launched at the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Washington, in 2020 and subsequently expanded to four (4) other locations before problems halted further expansion.
Over four years, the system sustained 826 “major performance incidents,” resulting in patient harm and even veteran fatalities.
The EHR program expansion has been “paused” since April 2023, when the agency acknowledged glitches in the EHR system had contributed to at least four (4) veterans’ deaths and “catastrophic harm” to others.
Currently, only one site — a joint DoD and VA hospital — has started using the software since 2023.
On March 31, 2025, VA Secretary Collins said the faster implementation of the EHR system will give veterans “a modern medical record system that will result in improvements to care, coordination and convenience.”
In 2017, the EHR project was originally scheduled to take ten (10) years and cost $16 billion. In 2021, an independent assessment by the Institute for Defense Analyses projected that costs could increase to $50 billion dollars before the EHR system is functional for all 170 VA facilities.
Because a previous plan to deploy the health records system to more VA hospitals by the mid-2026 was short-sighted and slow, Collins decided on the new plan for the thirteen (13) VA facilities.
During the 118th Congressional Session, H.R 2809, the “Electronic Health Record Program Restructure, Enhance, Strengthen, and Empower Technology Act of 2023” or the “EHR Program RESET Act of 2023” was introduced.
This bipartisan legislation, co-sponsored by Ohio Congressmen Greg Landsman and Troy Balderson, would have required, according to Section 202 of the bill, a “pause” in the “rollout” of the EHR system until all the problems and “glitches” have been corrected.
The bill was co-sponsored by twenty-three (23) other Representatives, but was not brought up for a vote in the 118th Congressional Session.
“I’m glad to see Secretary Collins say, ‘We got to get it going again,’ (former VA Secretary) McDonough took it off as a priority, and I think that was a mistake,” said Senator Thom Tillis. “I’m going to do everything I can to help them get it implemented.”
However, Senator Tillis said he still has questions about the timeframe for the EHR implementation.
“I asked Secretary Collins for a stop, start, continue. I want to know exactly how they’re going to reset this (EHR) project, and how we’re going to prevent what I think was a bipartisan poor execution,” Tillis added.
During a February House Committee Hearing, Acting VA Inspector General (IG) David Case revealed several “serious issues” the EHR program is still experiencing. This included handling schedule changes and missed appointments.
The Inspector General said VA providers, using the new EHR Oracle-Cerner program, are required to conduct manual medication safety checks for patients because of concerns with the automated process.
“These manual safety checks are time-consuming and rely on the vigilance of pharmacists and front-line staff,” he said.
My Opinion: The VAMC Cincinnati; VAMC Chillicothe; VAMC Dayton; VAMC Cleveland and the VAMC Cincinnati at Fort Thomas are scheduled for the next “roll out” phase of the EHR system. It will be their “baptism of fire” in trying to implement this flawed electronic medical records system.
The EHR Project has been dormant since 2023, with only one VA/DoD facility attempting to get it operational. The Acting VA IG had expressed doubts that the EHR system has several “serious issues.”
My concern is why doesn’t the VA correct the identified EHR problems before subjecting the planned thirteen (13) VAMCs to experience them?
Another question is: The VA has never provided Congress with the total amount that the VA has spend from 2017 to 2024 on the EHR project. The “RESET” Bill, H.R. 2809, would have forced the VA to provide this data to Congress.
Compounding the situation is the anticipated firing of 83,000 VA employees by August 2025 and the cancellation of over 500 contracts. Are any VA employees working on the EHR system being fired and were any contracts involving the EHR system cancelled?
I sincerely wish the Cincinnati VA and their VA Fort Thomas COBC “good luck” in the “roll out” of the EHR system. Some type of VA electronic health records system is needed – but after seven (7) years of work, the results achieved are far from satisfactory.
BioSketch: John Plahovinsak is a 32-year retired Army veteran who served from 1967 to 1999. He is the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Department of Ohio’s Hospital Chairman and Adjutant of DAV Chapter #63 (Clermont County). He can be reached at: [email protected].
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