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Department of Veterans Affairs considers making move to Cerner patient portal

By Madison Parry

A big change may soon come to the VA as the department considers retiring its current EHR portal, opting for a switch to Cerner’s patient portal tool, a change which could cost the VA up to $300 million in project costs.

A major change could soon occur at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the VA considering making an EHR portal change.

Discussion is underway for the department regarding possibly retiring its current EHR patient portal and making a switch to Cerner’s patient portal.

The project would result in a hefty bill, the switch costing anywhere from $60 million to $300 million, according to reporting by The Business of Federal Technology.

During a Sept. 30 House Veterans Affairs Committee subcommittee hearing on technology modernization, Executive Director of the Office of the Electronic Health Record Modernization, John Windom, said the department is considering making the switch from the current MyHealtheVet tool.

The Cerner EHR project is priced at $16 billion, reports Becker’s Hospital Review, and according to Windom, replacing the MyHealtheVet tool is not in the range of its contract with Kansas City-based Cerner.

“We are not funded to replace MyHealtheVet,” Windom said. “We have estimates in order to make modifications to MyHealtheVet as being discussed and they range from $60 million to $300 million. That’s not in scope.”