Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers calls for halt to billion dollar VA contract

Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers is demanding a halt to the Department of Veterans Affairs contract with Oracle Cerner to modernize VA healthcare records.

After introducing a resolution in early February that would have acted as a pause on the program rollout, as previously reported by The Center Square, and following an announcement Friday by the VA of a "reset" of the Electronic Health Record Modernization Program, McMorris Rodgers called for its outright termination.

"The Oracle Cerner electronic health record system has been a complete failure. It has caused serious harm to patients, devastated morale amongst employees and providers, and created a crisis of confidence for veterans," said McMorris Rodgers in a statement Tuesday.

This statement comes jointly with the Congresswoman announcing her support for HR 608, known as the Department of Veterans Affairs Electronic Health Record Modernization Termination Act. The first paragraph reads, "The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not carry out the Electronic Health Record Modernization Program."

"I have long supported the goal of modernizing our health record system to better care for our nation's heroes," continued McMorris Rodgers highlighting her support of veterans, as previously reported by The Center Square.

"Unfortunately, despite billions of dollars and every possible opportunity for improvement," the Congresswoman continued. "It's become abundantly clear that there is no coming back from the mess the Department of Veterans Affairs has made with this deeply broken system. It's time to pull the plug. We need to go back to a system that works immediately and deliver on our promise to give veterans in Eastern Washington the best care our country has to offer."

According to Darin Selnick, former Senior Advisor to the VA Secretary, the "system that works immediately" that Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers referred to is part of the problem for VA recordkeeping.

"The current working version is 146 different versions, not one implementation," Selnick told The Center Square. "They don't want to change the way they operate, which is 146 medical centers, doing 146 different things."

While Selnick agreed there are problems with the Oracle Cerner contract, he urged caution, saying "to simply abandon the effort doesn't do you any good because you're not dealing with the root cause," before adding the problems aren't just on the side of Oracle Cerner.

"If you switch to Epic," another popular contender in the Electronic Health Records space, "what's to say you're not going to have the same problem?" asked Selnick, pointing out that any new system could result in a similar level of spending only to end up in the same place.

"The problem isn't with the software," added Selnick before going on to advocate for DoD involvement on the Oracle Cerner contract.

When asked why the DoD, he answered simply, "Because they've successfully implemented it already."