Southwest Montana News

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Chairman Matt Rosendale (MT-02) of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Technology Modernization criticized Oracle Cerner’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems at VA medical centers. The remarks were highlighted by Bloomberg’s Brody Ford.

Chairman Rosendale stated, “Oracle Cerner has failed our nation’s heroes time and time again. Their defective EHR system is directly responsible for causing countless issues for medical staff at the VA, causing irreparable physical harm to veterans, and in some extreme cases being directly responsible for veteran deaths. The data is irrefutable; the more VA medical centers that implement the Oracle Cerner EHR system, the more veterans will suffer."

Rosendale further explained that a bipartisan group of legislators, in consultation with the VA, established criteria that Oracle Cerner must meet over the next two years. "Should they fail to meet those standards, rightfully their contract will be revisited - because they are not doing the job Congress is paying them to do," he said. He also accused Oracle Cerner of starting a lobbying campaign to avoid accountability.

“For the VA to fulfill its promise to veterans,” Rosendale added, “Oracle Cerner needs to focus more on delivering reliable technology to those caring for veterans and less on the billions of dollars in profits they are making from defrauding American taxpayers by continually refusing to fix the bugs in their software.”

Last month, Chairman Rosendale reiterated concerns about Oracle Cerner prioritizing political influence over software quality at VA medical centers. On February 15, he held a hearing exposing alleged corruption by Oracle Cerner and their lobbying efforts.

Previously, on November 15, 2023, Rosendale hosted a Technology Modernization Subcommittee hearing titled “Electronic Health Record Modernization Deep Dive: System Uptime.” Additionally, on April 21, 2023, following his persistent efforts, the VA paused implementing Oracle Cerner's EHR at additional centers.

On March 7, 2023, another subcommittee hearing focused on “Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture.” Furthermore, on January 31, 2023, Rosendale introduced the VA Electronic Health Record Modernization Termination Act aimed at winding down Oracle Cerner's contract and transferring activities back to existing VA platforms.