WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs launched its new electronic health record system, March 26, at Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center in Walla Walla, Washington.
By launching at Walla Walla and affiliated sites, VA marks another step toward health care transformation by modernizing the software that tracks and stores patient information.
The EHR system will replace the department’s current system, which is more than 30 years old, with a single platform shared with the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Coast Guard.
“This is a critical milestone in our efforts to support a lifetime of seamless care for service members from active duty to Veteran status,” said Program Executive Director of VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office Terry Adirim, M.D. “This new electronic health record [system] will grant VA personnel access to patient records for service members and Veterans in a single system, enabling them to provide quick, safe and effective care for all Veterans.”
By adopting a common EHR system, VA health care providers will gain access to a Veteran’s entire medical record for care received at a DOD facility or a VA facility anywhere in the world. It also allows access to a single point of entry for participating community providers to request and access VA, DOD and USCG patient health care data needed for patient care.
The March 26 launch at Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial brings all VA clinics in the Walla Walla catchment area online with the new EHR system, including facilities in the following locations:
- Washington – Richland and Yakima.
- Oregon – Boardman, Enterprise and La Grande.
- Idaho – Lewiston.
The next rollout of the new EHR system is scheduled for April 30 at the VA Central Ohio Healthcare System in Columbus, Ohio.
VA embarked upon a system-wide transformation of its electronic health record system in 2017. This is VA’s second deployment of its new EHR system. The first occurred in October 2020 at select sites in the Pacific Northwest, to include Mann-Grandstaff VAMC in Spokane, Washington, and its community-based outpatient clinics, as well as the West Consolidated Patient Account Center in Las Vegas.
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