VA deploys new EHR at 3 Indiana-based medical facilities

The Department of Veterans Affairs completed three additional go-lives of its new electronic health record system in Indiana this weekend, with the agency emphasizing the impact the latest batch of rollouts will have amid its broader push to accelerate the modernization project after it was stymied by problems.

The EHR software went live on Saturday at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis and at additional sites in Fort Wayne and Marion, along with 16 associated medical clinics across the state, according to VA. The agency said the rollouts mean that an additional 102,000 veterans and 6,000 staff now have access to the new EHR system.

The modernization effort is part of a broader federal push to deploy a single, interoperable federal EHR system across agencies like the Defense Department, Coast Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. VA’s latest round of deployments comes as the agency looks to get its own implementation program — which has significantly lagged behind its partner agencies — back on track. 

VA initially signed a $10 billion contract with Cerner in May 2018 to modernize its health record system. Cerner was subsequently acquired by Oracle in 2022 and rebranded as Oracle Health.

Since the start of the project, however, VA has faced numerous challenges with deploying the new software, including delays, cost overruns, technical issues and patient safety concerns. The agency subsequently paused most deployments of the modernized EHR system in April 2023 to address the host of problems slowing the software’s rollout across its network of 164 medical facilities. At the time of the pause, VA had only deployed the Oracle software at five medical sites. 

The Biden administration announced plans in December 2024 to restart system deployments in 2026 at four Michigan-based VA medical facilities, although current VA Secretary Doug Collins bumped up the number of total site go-lives this year to 13. The agency plans to complete two additional rollouts later this year at medical facilities in Alaska and Ohio.

“VA has now deployed this modern EHR system at 11 hospitals in 2026 — nearly doubling the number of deployments seen in the previous five years,” VA Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence said in a statement. “The Trump Administration is committed to ensuring every medical facility across VA has this critical system by 2031 to improve experiences for both Veterans and VA employees.”

The latest round of rollouts comes after VA revealed last week that it was adding three additional option-year periods — and a $17 billion boost — to its contract with Oracle to complete the modernization project. The modified agreement raises its total value to just under $27 billion.

VA said extending its agreement with Oracle was necessary because “unanticipated complexities” slowed software deployments, which resulted in the contract’s ceiling being reached “sooner than originally planned.” The agency added that it “anticipates using the remaining ceiling by the first quarter of fiscal year 2027.”