VA Establishes Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization to Support Transition From Legacy Patient Data System

WASHINGTON — Focused on ensuring a successful transition from a legacy patient data system, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced the recent establishment of the Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization (OEHRM).

Launched in late June, OEHRM will manage the preparation, deployment and maintenance of VA’s new electronic health-care record system and the health information technology (IT) tools dependent upon it.

“As technology and the needs of our Veterans evolve, we must also evolve our systems to support better care for our Veterans,” said VA’s Acting Secretary Peter O’Rourke. “This office is dedicated entirely to our electronic health record modernization, and will bring significant and diverse expertise to get VA to the end-state that will allow medical records to transition seamlessly for service members departing active duty into Veteran status.”

OEHRM is staffed with knowledgeable, technical and functional subject matter experts and will be led by Genevieve Morris, who is currently detailed to VA from her position as the principal deputy national coordinator for the Department of Health and Human Services. Morris and OEHRM will work in close alignment with VA’s Under Secretary of Health and Chief Information Officer.

As she implements the new health IT initiative, Morris said she will concentrate on what is best for the Veteran community.

“OEHRM, the Veterans Health Administration and the Office of Information and Technology will continue to collaborate closely to ensure this important transition is as smooth as possible for our Veterans, clinicians and staff,” Morris said. “We are working hard to configure and design a system focused on quality, safety and patient outcomes, which will allow health IT innovations within one VA facility to be used across the entire VA health-care system.”

VA signed a contract with Cerner Corp. on May 17 to replace its decades-old Veterans Integrated System Technology Architecture (VistA) health-care records technology over the next 10 years with the new Cerner system, which is in the pilot phase at the Department of Defense (DoD). The modernized system will allow VA to have patient data shared seamlessly between VA and DoD.

For more information about OEHRM, to include contract information, employment opportunities and messages from OEHRM leadership, go to www.ehrm.va.gov.