Two senators are taking steps to increase oversight of VA’s Cerner EHR modernization effort by establishing a new committee.
Senator John Tester and Marsha Blackburn recently introduced a bill intended to establish a third-party oversight committee to monitor VA’s Cerner EHR modernization project.
The VA Electronic Health Record Advisory Committee Act will help VA maintain transparency and stay on task as it rolls out its $16 billion commercial EHR system to streamline care delivery for about 9 million veterans.
“The new electronic health record system is too important to veterans’ health care for the VA to get wrong,” said Tester, ranking member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “Our bill will create another layer of accountability and oversight of the process to make sure the VA roll-out does right by the nine million veterans who will rely on this system.”
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The oversight committee would consist of 11 members who would operate separately from VA and the Department of Defense. Committee members would include medical professionals, information technology and interoperability specialists, and veterans currently receiving care through VA.
Specifically, the committee must include one physician, one nurse, one individual with expertise in clinical support, and one individual with expertise in medical business and administration who is or was in an executive management position an organization that provides inpatient and outpatient care.
The bill also requires that the committee include two information technology developers, two individuals with expertise in health IT, one interoperability specialist, and two individuals who are members of a veteran’s service organization.
No members of the committee can be employees of the federal government or have worked for any company contracted or subcontracted to a federal agency in the last two years.
The committee would be responsible for analyzing VA’s strategy for the EHR implementation project, developing a risk management plan, touring VA care facilities throughout the system launch, and ensuring veterans, VA employees, medical staff, and other participants have a way to offer feedback during the project.
“A crucial part of giving our veterans better care is improving the way DOD and the VA organize their health records,” said Senator Blackburn. “The EHR Advisory Committee will be entirely devoted to ensuring the implementation and transition is done as smoothly as possible.”
“Comprised of professionals who have experience in the health care field, as well as veterans currently receiving care at the VA, this committee will have the knowledge and expertise to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the VA’s services,” added Blackburn.
The committee would meet with the VA Secretary at least twice a year to deliver their analysis and recommendations for the EHR modernization project.
According to the proposed bill, the EHR advisory committee would be established no later than 180 days after the bill is enacted.
VA’s Cerner EHR implementation is expected to go live across all care sites by 2028, according to Cerner Government Services President Travis Dalton.
The federal agency is currently conducting workflow-based training and has launched an informatics institute to improve user capabilities. Cerner has also launched a new sustainment model for its VA implementation, and will be operating help desks for VA after go-live.
All told, the VA implementation will include 47 deployment waves, plus an initial operating capability deployment. VA plans to go live with its IOC care sites in the second quarter of 2020.
Cerner is meeting with stakeholders from VA, DoD, Leidos, and other parties on a daily basis to foster communication and understanding across organizations. These meetings will help to enable timely decision-making throughout the implementation process.
Date: April 24, 2019
Source: EHR Intelligence