VA awards second option period to Oracle Health in support of Federal Electronic Health Record modernization contract

Federal EHR agreement allows VA to provide best value to Veterans, VA providers, and taxpayers

WASHINGTON —Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced the award of the second option period for its contract with Oracle Health in support of VA’s Federal Electronic Health Record modernization, with an emphasis on improved fiscal and performance accountability.

Through this agreement, VA and Oracle Health continue to partner to deploy the Federal EHR as part of the reset announced last year. The eleven-month option period award announced today is a continuation of VA’s focus on improving the Federal EHR for Veterans while supporting the six VA health care facilities actively using the Federal EHR. This contract will also support potential pre-deployment and deployment activities at new sites in fiscal year 2025 once VA determines reset goals have been met.

On May 16, 2024 — the date the first Oracle Health contract option year was set to expire — VA announced a one-month extension to support negotiations to ensure long-term success of the program for Veterans and VA providers. The eleven-month option awarded today completes the second option period award.

“This announcement is a testament to VA’s commitment to keeping the best interests of Veterans, VA providers, and taxpayers at the forefront while maximizing resources in a fiscally restrained environment,” said VA Deputy Secretary Tanya Bradsher. “Executing the second option year of the contract allows VA and Oracle Health to continue to drive forward on the goals of the reset and future deployments. VA remains committed to holding ourselves and our vendors accountable for resolving challenges with deployment of the Federal EHR and moving forward productively.”

Negotiations for the second option period are focused on two main objectives: 1) supporting value-added services, such as system improvements and optimizations, and 2) achieving better predictability in hosting, deployment, and sustainment — all while keeping an eye on fiscal responsibility. These objectives align with and facilitate VA’s reset efforts towards resuming site deployments in fiscal year 2025. VA will continue to evaluate and align future option periods with the best path forward for its Federal EHR modernization efforts.

Last year, VA renegotiated the contract with Oracle Health from a five-year term to five one-year terms, allowing the annual review of Federal EHR modernization progress and renegotiation with Oracle Health, as needed. This approach has substantially increased accountability across a variety of key areas, including: minimizing outages and incidents, resolving clinician requests, improving interoperability with other health care systems, and increasing interoperability with other applications to ensure an integrated health care experience. The Federal EHR will ultimately replace VA’s current Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) for documentation and support of Veteran health care, streamlining access across all VA healthcare facilities.

For more information about VA’s overall EHR modernization effort, visit https://www.ehrm.va.gov.

Originally published by Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs