Veterans in and around Walla Walla, Washington, are one step closer to attaining an electronic health record (EHR) system that allows clinicians to easily access their full medical history, including their active-duty service, in one location.

VA transitioned to a new EHR system March 26 at the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center (VAMC) in Walla Walla and its affiliated clinics, providing a single platform that will eventually be shared across all VA medical facilities, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).

“This is a critical milestone in our efforts to support a lifetime of seamless care for service members, from active duty to Veteran status,” said Dr. Terry Adirim, program executive director of VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office. “This EHR is a more modern system that will allow VA to leverage the best of commercial practices and the best of VA care so we can deliver the best top-line care for Veterans. It’s really an opportunity for VA to transform how we deliver care.”

Updating the software that tracks and stores patient information supports VA’s efforts to improve the delivery of health care for Veterans and helps providers complete work faster with new automated processing functions. It will also provide clinicians with a more complete view of a patient’s records by connecting Veterans’ time on active duty and potential medical issues they might experience later in life.

VA first launched its new EHR in October 2020 at select sites in the Pacific Northwest, as well as the West Consolidated Patient Account Center in Las Vegas. Jonathan M. Wainwright became the second facility to receive VA’s new EHR system. VA will continue rolling out the new system with its next scheduled launch April 30 at the VA Central Ohio Healthcare System in Columbus, Ohio.

For more information and resources about VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) effort, visit the EHRM website: www.ehrm.va.gov.

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2 Comments

  1. Brandon Hammons April 6, 2022 at 18:21

    While it looks good on paper just go try and make an appointment or get a hold of your care team, or refill a prescription, at the Walla Walla WA VA. They cannot access my records, I cannot get a hold of my team, the new call center has failed me 100% of the time I’ve tried to use it, several times. My PMC just went from 14 to 4 patients a day and has resorted to referring me to Portland VA to get my urgent medical needs taken care of. So no, this system doesn’t work. If there is any doubt, look up Spokane VA, WA state. They’ve been on the new program for two years.

  2. Richard Homan April 6, 2022 at 16:31

    Ok?

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