VA sets date for initial Cerner EHR go-live: 5 things to know 

Jackie Drees -

The Department of Veterans Affairs has scheduled to deploy the first round of its new Cerner EHR capabilities on Oct. 24 at the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Wash., according to Federal News Network

Five things to know: 

1. In February, VA postponed the system rollout at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center to July but then further delayed the go-live in April to focus on its COVID-19 pandemic response.

2. VA officials said the first set of EHR capabilities for the $16 billion system is now 99 percent complete. 

3. VA has been testing and retesting the new EHR, and most end users at Mann-Grandstaff have started advanced training on the new system. The department did, however, have to cancel a few days of training due to recent wildfires, said Laura Kroupa, MD, chief medical officer for VA's Office of EHR Modernization. 

"We have a couple weeks at the end of the training before the go-live to try to make those up. That's going to be challenging, but we're committed to that," she said. 

4. During the Oct. 24 go-live, VA plans to have adoption coaches and super-users on-site to assist with the rollout. Ms. Kroupa said the adoption coaches will remain on-site for 90 days post go-live. 

5. VA plans to deploy two capability sets for the new system, with the second round planned for spring 2021. Because of this, VA adjusted its go-live schedule and plans to roll out its "1.1 capability set," which is a version of the Cerner EHR with interfaces and coding designed to support small- and medium-sized hospitals in its network, to hospitals in the Midwest.  

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