Murray, McMorris Rodgers Secure VA Commitment to Hold Town Halls for Veterans in Eastern Washington

Events Agreed to After Months of Frustration and Confusion, Veterans Harmed by Health Record System 

(Washington, D.C.) – Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee and Eastern Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05), today announced they have secured a commitment from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to hold two town hall events for veterans in Eastern Washington later this year.

At the lawmakers’ request, the VA has agreed to have a meeting in both Spokane and Walla Walla to hear directly from veterans concerned about long wait times and limited access to care, patient harm caused by the new electronic health record (EHR) system, rumors about reduction of services, and any other issue they are facing related to the agency.

“We are pleased the VA has agreed to hear directly from veterans in Eastern Washington and answer their questions,” said Murray and McMorris Rodgers. “For months, we have heard from veterans and providers frustrated by the new electronic health record system and the rumors of services being reduced at the facilities they rely on for care. It is imperative that VA’s Central Office leadership understands the struggles veterans and front-line providers deal with every day at these facilities. The botched roll-out of the new Electronic Health Record, and years of attempts to cut care and services has undermined trust and made providers’ jobs immeasurably harder. Department leadership needs to hear directly from veterans about these issues and then act immediately to implement real solutions.”

Earlier this year, the two lawmakers rejected the VA’s recommendation to reduce services at the Jonathan M. Wainwright VA Medical Center in Walla Walla, and they took action to prevent them from being implemented. Senator Murray has been conducting oversight on the EHR rollout at Mann-Grandstaff VAMC for years:

• September 2018 – January 2020: She pressed then-VA Secretary Wilkie about the EHR rollout in September of 2018 and wrote a letter in January 2020 to VA leadership expressing her concern on reports of staffing and facility issues at Mann-Grandstaff VAMC, and how those issues could affect the EHR rollout. Following Senator Murray’s actions, VA initially delayed rollout of the EHR program at Mann-Grandstaff until March 2020.
• July 2021: Senator Murray pressed Secretary McDonough on patient safety in light of reports of veterans receiving incorrect medications, the need for more staff support from VA, and how VA will avoid the issues that have arisen at Mann-Grandstaff VAMC moving forward and at other VA medical centers.
• December 2021: Senator Murray pressed Secretary McDonough for solutions and transparency during a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing. During the hearing, Senator Murray underscored VA’s responsibility to address the problems that veterans are seeing at Mann-Grandstaff VAMC, and pressed Secretary McDonough for assurances that these issues would be resolved quickly and would not arise at other VA medical centers in Washington state, such as Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VAMC in Walla Walla.
• March 2022: Senator Murray issued a statement demanding a pause of the Cerner Electronic Health Record system rollout in Washington state, citing patient safety risks, and demanding the concerns laid out in reports from VA OIG – and previous reports over the last two years – be resolved first before the EHR program be deployed at any other sites in Washington state.
• June 2022: Senator Murray issued a statement on VA’s decision to suspend its rollout of the Cerner EHR modernization in Washington state and other parts of the country until 2023. That same month, Senator Murray helped pass the bipartisan VA Electronic Health Record Transparency Act into law. The legislation she helped introduce will increase transparency at VA by requiring the Secretary to submit periodic reports to Congress regarding the costs, performance metrics, and outcomes for Oracle Cerner EHR system rollout.
• July 2022: Senator Murray spoke with providers and held an in-person press conference at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane outlining her efforts to deliver solutions and accountability for the deeply flawed rollout of the Oracle Cerner EHR system.

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