Oracle outage hits US Federal health records systems

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Oracle’s Federal electronic health records software suffered a US-wide outage this week, causing Veterans Affairs hospitals to invoke “standard contingency procedures.”

According to a Veterans Affairs Department statement to the media, Oracle’s Federal EHR hit problems at around 0837 Eastern Time on Tuesday. Software froze and users were unable to access applications. Nonetheless, the systems were back up and running by 1400 ET after Oracle restarted the system.

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The outage affected VA medical facilities already using the software in Spokane and Walla Walla, Washington; in Columbus, Ohio; in Roseburg and White City, Oregon; and in North Chicago, Illinois. Facilities run by the Department of Defense, the US Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were also affected, the VA said.

A VA spokesperson told The Reg: “The outage affected six VA medical centers, 26 community clinics, and remote supporting VA sites. Affected VA medical facilities followed standard contingency procedures during the outage to ensure continuity of care for Veterans. Oracle Health is conducting a full root cause analysis to determine what triggered this outage.”

The tech giant has not yet responded to our queries.

Meanwhile, the VA has announced it is set to expand its rollout of Oracle health records software, which it acquired through the $28.3 billion Cerner buyout in June 2022.

In a statement, the VA said it plans to add nine additional medical facilities to the 2026 HER rollout plan, bringing the total to go live this year to 13. It intends to complete deployment of the EHR at all VA medical facilities as early as 2031, and said it would announce more details later this year.

VA Secretary Doug Collins said: “America’s Veterans deserve a medical records system that’s integrated across all VA and DOD components, and that is exactly what we will deliver. We can and will move faster on this important priority. But we’re going to listen to our doctors, nurses and vendor partners along the way in order to ensure patient safety, quality and customer service.”

The reboot of the project follows a two-and-a-half year hiatus after software implemented in Washington state led to computer errors that are estimated to have harmed 150 patients. Last month, The Register revealed the VA released $330 million in spending with Oracle to re-start the rollout. ®

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