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

[Nancy Anthracite]

*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
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The 11-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
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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 11-month option awarded June 13, 2024, 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 period 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
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, or VistA,
for documentation and support of Veteran health care, streamlining access
across all VA health care facilities.