The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced on Aug.19 that it raised the ceiling of its contract with Oracle Health for the agency’s Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) program to nearly $27 billion.
According to an award notice posted to SAM.gov, the VA is increasing the overall contract ceiling – which is already at nearly $10 billion – by nearly $17 billion.
On Aug. 11, the VA posted a notice to SAM.gov that indicated the agency’s plans to increase the total contract ceiling value. However, the proposed increase and new total contract ceiling were redacted from the documents accompanying the notice.
“Due to unanticipated complexities in deploying the EHR system, VA has reached the current contract ceiling sooner than originally planned,” one of the documents said. “Accordingly, the expanded scope is necessary to ensure continued EHRM deployment activities and associated support services until all VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) and associated facilities have fully transitioned to the EHR system.”
According to the Aug. 11 notice, the agency proposed three one-year optional ordering periods that would extend the contract through May 16, 2031.
The current contract is set to expire in May 2028. As of July 2026, the VA had deployed the new EHR system, known as the Federal EHR, to just 14 out of 164 VA medical centers.
Under VA’s current 2026 schedule, the department has slated three Federal EHR deployments for Aug. 22 at Fort Wayne VAMC in Fort Wayne, Ind.; Marion VAMC in Marion, Ind.; and Richard L. Roudebush VAMC in Indianapolis. VA also plans deployments on Oct. 24 at Alaska VA Healthcare System in Anchorage and Louis Stokes Cleveland VAMC in Cleveland.
In 2027, the VA plans to deploy the system to 26 sites across Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Missouri. The agency has yet to publicly release a deployment schedule beyond 2027.
In a statement to MeriTalk, Seema Verma, executive vice president and general manager of Oracle Health and Life Sciences, said, “Our recent success in bringing more VA facilities onto a modern and secure electronic health record reflects the strength of our partnership and marks important progress in VA’s nationwide deployment.”
“We are honored to continue advancing VA’s mission to expand access to high-quality care across the country and to create a more connected experience for veterans and the clinicians who care for them,” Verma added.
VA Press Secretary Quinn Slaven told MeriTalk in a statement that the EHRM program is “back on track” after the nearly two-year pause in deployments.
Between early April and early June 2026, Slaven said the VA more than doubled the number of VA medical centers using the Federal EHR – from six to 14 – and nearly tripled the number of VA clinics – from 26 to 75. “VA has made more than 13,000 EHR improvements enhancing performance, usability and capabilities,” Slaven said.
“VA established an accelerated deployment schedule in 2025 to successfully deploy the Federal EHR to all VA facilities by 2031,” Slaven said. “More than 29,000 clinicians and front-line staff are now using the Federal EHR to deliver care to more than 515,000 veterans.”
“The first six sites are meeting or exceeding pre go live productivity metrics and productivity is increasing across all converted sites post go live,” he added. “There have been zero outages in the past 12 months.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comments from the VA.