Veterans Affairs promises smooth changeover to new electronic health records

The chairman of the Veterans Affairs committee of the U.S. House of Representatives says he has assurance from the secretary of Veterans Affairs that the changeover to a new electronic health records management system will go smoothly.

Rep. Phil Roe. (R-Tenn.) told The Daily Press of Newport News, Va., that contractors expect each patient to have at least five years of VA medical records transferred into the new system, which is merging a legacy system called AHLTA with the MHS Genesis system designed by Cerner.

The $4.3 billion Defense Healthcare Management System contract was signed in July 2015 to modernize electronic health records management for the Department of Veterans Affairs over the following 10 years It’s using Cerner to manage health records and Dentrix Enterprise for dental records.

Currently, Cerner’s record system is in use under a pilot program begun February 2017 at three installations in the Pacific Northwest. The V.A. plans to have the system fully deployed throughout the military by 2022.

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