Becker's Hospital Review

50 CIO / HEALTH IT Why the VA's EHR project may top $16B By Jessica Kim Cohen U .S. Representative Debbie Wasser- man Schultz, D-Fla., ranking mem- ber of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations, recently cited a $16 billion figure for the VA's EHR implementation project, a significant increase from previ- ous estimates. Former VA Secretary David Shulkin, MD, first announced the VA's intent to im- plement Cerner as its systemwide EHR during a news briefing in June 2017. Since then, Dr. Shulkin has delayed awarding the agency's contract. However, most recent estimates have placed the VA's contract with Cerner at $10 billion. During a March 15 appropriations hearing on President Donald Trump's proposed 2019 budget for the VA, Ms. Schultz noted Dr. Shulkin has requested $1.2 billion to continue the development and rollout of the VA's new EHR system. "We need to be very careful to establish ac- countability measures through the whole implementation process," Ms. Schultz said in a statement to Dr. Shulkin. "It could fundamentally change the nation's use of electronic records. We are talking about a $16 billion project that will take a very long time, probably longer than many of us will be here to see it completed." e discrepancy in estimates may be at- tributed to the breakdown of the 10-year modernization project, according to ma- terials provided to congressional sourc- es and reported by the Politico Morning eHealth newsletter. e breakdown report- edly comprises $10 billion for the Cerner contract, $4.6 billion for infrastructure im- provements and $1.2 billion for program management support. VA officials have told Congress they will seek $10 billion in new appropriations for the project, according to Politico. e agency plans to reprogram the remaining $5.8 billion over the decade-long period. n Finger Lakes Health reports ransomware attack, unable to access computers By Julie Spitzer F inger Lakes Health in Geneva, N.Y., lost access to its computer system for close to a week after getting hit with a ransomware attack March 18. Around midnight March 18, the organization was notified of a potential breach, in which specific electronic systems were encrypted by a third party. While it was locked out of its computer system, Finger Lakes caregivers reverted to standard downtime procedures, including paper charting. "We immediately implemented our manual downtime protocol and procedures which we have practiced for circumstances when computer access is limited," a Finger Lakes Health spokesperson wrote in a statement to Becker's Hospital Re- view. "We, like many other health systems and businesses, have prepared for this inevitability due to the increase in these types of incidents." The health system on March 23 confirmed a payment was made to an outsider party to decrypt its files, according to Finger Lake Times. Finger Lakes worked with law enforcement and security professionals to get the system back up in a step-wise approach. Email, internet, most phone line access and a few other electronic systems were restored by March 25. Hospital officials do not believe patient or employee information was compromised in the attack. n Judy Faulkner says Epic won't challenge VA's 2017 decision to select Cerner: 'It's the customer's right to pick whatever they want' By Jessica Kim Cohen A fter former U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, MD, delayed awarding the agency's EHR contract to Cerner, some ques- tioned whether Epic would challenge the deal, according to the Politico Morning eHealth newsletter. However, Epic founder and CEO Judy Faulkner told Politico the EHR giant does not plan to do so. "We've never challenged anything," she said. "We don't do that. We feel it's the customer's right to pick whatever they want." Dr. Shulkin first announced the VA's intention to implement Cerner as its system- wide EHR during a news briefing in June 2017. During the briefing, Dr. Shulkin said he had signed a "determination and findings" form to allow the VA to issue a direct solicitation to Cerner. Prior to Dr. Shulkin's June announcement, Epic officials estimated they could im- plement a systemwide EHR at the VA for $7 billion, according to Ms. Faulkner. Recent estimates placed the VA's contract with Cerner at about $10 billion. "I do think that if the VA had gone with us we'd be much cheaper, much faster and much better," Ms. Faulkner told Politico. "And we'd interoperate with most of the places that veterans go to for care outside the VA at a high level." n

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