The Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA's) massive effort to overhaul its medical records system took a step forward with the rollout of a new patient scheduling system.
The VA recently announced that the appointment scheduling tool was live at the VA Central Ohio Healthcare System.
It marks progress in a $16 billion technology project that's been hit by delays, leadership turnover and infrastructure problems since it kicked off in 2018.
VA officials have said they have high hopes the new scheduling system will help streamline veterans’ and medical providers’ experiences as it gets deployed enterprisewide in the coming years.
Officials said the centralized scheduling solution is a critical component of its overall electronic health record modernization (EHRM) effort.
Leaders from health IT vendor Cerner, the VA's technology partner, called the new scheduling system a "critical milestone" in the project.
The VA signed a $10 billion deal with Cerner in May 2018 to move from the VA’s customized VistA platform to an off-the-shelf EHR to align the country’s largest health system with the Department of Defense (DOD), which has already started integrating Cerner’s MHS Genesis system.
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"This is another successful launch of a major milestone in the EHRM effort and will optimize veterans’ access to health care by improving appointment scheduling," said Acting VA Deputy Secretary Pamela Powers, who has oversight of VA’s EHRM program, in a statement.
The centralized scheduling solution provides an efficient and transparent method of identifying and eliminating double bookings, flagging canceled appointments and maximizing provider time spent with patients, according to Powers.
Veterans also can schedule and cancel their appointments online, making it easier to manage their medical appointments, according to Cerner.
VA’s current scheduling solutions require VA staff to log in to multiple software applications to coordinate calendars, clinicians, rooms and equipment. This process requires time-intensive manual data entry and workarounds to finalize appointments, according to the VA.
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The new system addresses these challenges by providing an “all-in-one” appointment management solution that offers scheduling by resource, simple color-coded time slots and a single view for coordinating schedules across multiple locations, the VA said.
By installing a new commercial off-the-shelf EHR system from Cerner, the VA wants to unify all VA healthcare facilities into one system linked with the DOD.
The Cerner medical records system will replace the approximately 130 operational instances of VistA currently in use across the department. While the initial EHR contract signed with Cerner was for $10 billion, the VA has pushed the estimated 10-year cost for implementing the system past $16 billion.
The VA has restarted its work at the first EHR go-live site, Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Washington, after hitting pause on the project in April due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The VA and Cerner are now working toward an October implementation, seven months after initially scheduled.
The VA had planned to flip the switch on the new EHR at Mann-Grandstaff on March 28. The VA then said in February it was delaying those plans to commence end-user training.
Government watchdogs and congressional leaders continue to voice concerns about the project including infrastructure issues and leadership challenges.
A VA inspector general report released in April found that VA medical centers require significant upgrades to physical and information technology infrastructure in preparation for the EHR implementation.