ICYMI: Senator Murray Statement on Delay of Electronic Health Records Rollout in Washington State, Continues Push for Solutions and Accountability – MORE HERE
ICYMI: Senator Murray to VA: Stop the Rollout of EHR in Washington State Until It’s Fixed – MORE HERE
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, issued the following statement regarding the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announcing it would delay the rollout of the Oracle Cerner Electronic Health Record (EHR) system at VA Puget Sound Health Care System until after June 2023. For months, Senator Murray has pressed VA on the shortcomings of the EHR system rollout and the harm it caused patients and providers at VA facilities. Over the summer, she secured a delay of the rollout anywhere else in Washington state until 2023 and demanded VA implement all of the recommendations made by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to fix the system before it goes any further. She has been steadfast in her commitment to ensuring veterans in Washington state—including Spokane and Walla Walla—receive the care they have earned, and is pressing for solutions to the problems the EHR implementation has caused.
“I have been incredibly frustrated by how the botched rollout of the Oracle Cerner EHR system has hurt veterans and undermined hardworking VA providers and staff in Washington state. It’s painfully clear we need to stop this program until the VA can fix these serious issues before they hurt anyone else—so I’m glad that after months of pushing, the VA has correctly decided to further delay the VA Puget Sound rollout,” said Senator Murray. “I don’t want to see this rollout move forward one inch until the system is fully fixed—that means every single OIG recommendation is implemented, everything is working the way it’s supposed to, and every veteran is getting the care they need. I’ve been sounding the alarm on the shortcomings of this system for years and I won’t stop until we’re living up to the promises we’ve made to veterans. They deserve nothing less than the best.”
Senator Murray has been conducting oversight on the flawed EHR rollout at Mann-Grandstaff VAMC for years. 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. In July of 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. Senator Murray has since raised the need to resolve issues with care at Mann-Grandstaff with Secretary McDonough and other VA officials multiple times in private meetings and public hearings.
In December of 2021, Senator Murray again 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 were 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. Importantly, Senator Murray pressed Secretary McDonough for concrete steps being taken to address the challenges in Spokane and secured a commitment from him that VA would share clear indicators of readiness before deploying the new EHR program at any other sites in Washington state, specifically Walla Walla.
This past March, 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 the VA OIG – and previous reports over the last two years – be resolved before the EHR program is deployed at any other sites in Washington state. In May, during a Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing, Senator Murray pressed VA Secretary McDonough to halt the rollout of the Cerner Electronic Health Record System rollout in Washington state until the program’s ongoing issues are fixed. On June 8, Murray and SVAC committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-MT) urged Secretary McDonough to address and fix repeated failures of Oracle Cerner’s EHR program at VA medical centers in Washington state and across the country. In July, Senator Murray met with veterans and staff at Mann-Grandstaff to discuss their challenges with EHR, the burnout among staff and providers, and the impact on patient safety.
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