- Six veteran affairs hospitals were affected by an Oracle EHR interruption
- DOD, the United States Coast Guard and NOAA also affected by inactivity time
- It is going to use federal ehr in even more sites
The Federal Software Electronic Health Records (EHR) of Oracle recently suffered a national interruption, which caused veteran affairs hospitals to return to contingency procedures to continue treating patients as normal.
The interruption began at 08:37 ET on March 4, causing software freezing and access problems, but the teams involved quickly worked in a remedy with the systems that were finally restored at 14:05 ET, with Oracle restarting the system.
A spokesman for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) confirmed to CNBC: “The medical facilities of VA affected followed standard contingency procedures during interruption to guarantee the continuity of care for veterans.”
Oracle interruption affects veterans affairs hospitals
The agency confirmed that “all users” were affected, including the Department of Defense, the United States Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as six VA medical facilities in Spokane, Washington; Walla Walla, Washington; Columbus, Ohio; Roseburg, Oregon; White City, Oregon; and North Chicago, Illinois.
The spokesman of VA added: “The medical facilities of VA affected followed the standard contingency procedures during the interruption to guarantee the continuity of care for veterans. Oracle Health is performing a complete root cause analysis to determine what triggered this interruption. “
Techradar Pro He has asked Oracle more context on the subject, but we have not received an answer.
Looking towards the future, the VA seems committed to the EHR of Oracle. The agency said a few days after the interruption, “will complete the deployment of the Federal Electronic Health Registries System in nine additional medical facilities” in 2026, which adds to its previous announcement of December that reveals four other facilities based on Michigan with Go-Live dates in 2026.
The Secretary of VA, Doug Collins, commented: “The United States veterans deserve a system of medical records that is integrated into all VA and DOD components, and that is exactly what we will deliver.”
Collins added the “Can and Will” moves faster, but is committed to listening to doctors, nurses and partners to bring him closer from the first moment.
