Policy analysts, Democrats, and Republicans dissatisfied with the deal agree: Federal health programs have dodged a budgetary bullet in the Washington showdown over raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

Congressional Republicans and the White House reached a deal over the weekend to raise the debt ceiling that includes healthcare wins for both sides of the aisle, creating a path forward to prevent economic upheaval roughly a week before a potential federal default.

The Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations put Medicare Advantage (MA) plans on notice last Wednesday, demanding answers for claims denials. Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, said in an opening statement during the hearing that the committee sent letters to the three largest MA plans—UnitedHealthcare, Humana and Aetna—seeking documentation on how they make decisions around...

VA and Oracle Cerner Reach Agreement on Electronic Health Record Contract Extension

In a statement on Tuesday, the VA said the renegotiated contract “dramatically increases” the agency’s ability to hold Oracle Cerner accountable across areas including reliability, responsiveness and interoperability.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) expanded its existing partnership with Verizon in a $448.3 million, nine-year extension to supply VA medical centers and healthcare facilities with mobile devices including communications during the VA’s disaster recovery missions and other emergencies.

Newly proposed standards and requirements would better ensure access to care, accountability, and transparency for Medicaid or CHIP services, including home and community-based services

In the latest setback for the initiative, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that all deployments in its EHR Modernization effort will be halted while it prioritizes improvements at the five sites that currently use the new EHR, as part of a larger program reset.

The integration hinges on generative AI-powered tools, according to the announcement, to increase productivity and enhance patient care. One of the integration’s tools, which helps automatically draft message responses, is being implemented at UC San Diego Health, UW Health and Stanford Health Care, according to the companies.

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ latest pause in the rollout of its new Electronic Health Record will last longer than expected.

Laura Ruzick, director of Veterans Integrated Services Network 10 — which covers parts of Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana — told staff in a memo that recent assessments show the Oracle-Cerner EHR “is not yet ready for the planned June deployment in Saginaw.”

Called the EHR Program RESET Act, the bill would require the VA and the EHR’s developer Oracle Cerner to fix underlying issues with the technology identified in a sprint report published last month. The bill would also compel the department not to implement the technology at any additional health facilities until data shows that it is surpassing the performance of the VA’s VistA legacy...