After three-year hiatus, VA to resume rollout of new electronic medical records system

Four Veterans Affairs health systems in Michigan will activate the department’s new electronic health records system on Saturday, ending a three-year pause to a program that has been plagued by delays and cost overruns. The VA Detroit Healthcare System, VA Saginaw Healthcare System, VA Ann Arbor and Battle Creek Healthcare Systems will flip the switch from the VA’s legacy digital medical record to the new Federal Electronic Health Record, currently used by six sites across the VA. The department’s adoption of the Oracle Health’s FEHR was halted in 2023 following a year-long pause over safety and functionality concerns. The program, which was introduced to medical centers in Washington, Oregon and Ohio between 2020 and 2022, experienced numerous setbacks, including incidences of harm to at least 149 patients, according to the VA inspector general. The safety problems were tied to a system feature that caused some specialty-care referrals, follow-on appointments and lab orders to disappear from view. VA officials announced in late 2024 that they planned to restart the project in Michigan in 2026, and in March 2025, announced they would accelerate adoption by adding nine more sites this year. Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence said during an event Friday at the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit that the VA expects to roll out the system to 26 additional sites next year. “But already, folks in the VA system are knowing how well this is going to go. They’re asking to be mov…