We’ve been watching the progress of the US Department of Veterans Affairs’ EHR modernisation project for quite a few years now, fascinated by what is a mammoth undertaking at a frankly quite extortionate cost. The $US16 billion project was controversial from the beginning, with an aged and yet beloved bespoke system called VistA ripped out to make way for Cerner’s Millennium EMR across numerous VA hospitals and health facilities, linked to the Department of Defense and the US Coast Guard.

The first small sites went live Ohio and Washington in 2020 and immediately ran into problems, which in turn has delayed proposed implementations at larger sites. Concerns have also been raised the price tag for the 10-year project may double or even triple and rival the GDP of a small country. This has led to intense speculation that if the problems aren’t fixed, the whole project may be scrapped.