Another day, another change in Washington.
David Shulkin has been ousted as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. His departure comes before the Department of Veterans Affairs officially signed a contract with Cerner to replace its legacy EHR system, VistA.
The VA initially announced its intention to move forward with a Cerner deal last summer. But thus far, nothing has come of it.
On an earnings call last month, Cerner executives said the company expected to sign the VA deal in Q4 of last year — more specifically, last November. CFO Marc Naughton partially attributed the vendor’s Q4 earnings drop to the fact that the deal hasn’t gone through yet.
Overall, saying goodbye to Shulkin leaves a big question mark for the VA in the realm of health IT. Will the Cerner agreement be called off?
The VA-Cerner negotiation was a long time coming. Axing it would, in a sense, be taking a step back on all the work that’s already been done regarding the future of electronic medical records at the VA.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
On the other hand, perhaps Shulkin’s successor will take a different view.
Trump announced March 28 that Ronny Jackson will replace Shulkin:
….In the interim, Hon. Robert Wilkie of DOD will serve as Acting Secretary. I am thankful for Dr. David Shulkin’s service to our country and to our GREAT VETERANS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2018
(Jackson happens to be the physician who gave the president an exceptional bill of health in January. He was also Obama’s White House physician, reports The Washington Post.)
Maybe Jackson will initiate the laborious process of selecting a different vendor for the EHR project. Or he could decide to stick with VistA and improve it instead.
As for Shulkin, his departure came after weeks of criticism and rumors regarding his position. An OIG report issued last month criticized his use of taxpayer funds to pay for his wife accompanying him on a trip to Europe. It also noted he improperly accepted tickets to Wimbledon.
Shulkin responded to critics in a March 28 New York Times op-ed: “In recent months, though, the environment in Washington has turned so toxic, chaotic, disrespectful and subversive that it became impossible for me to accomplish the important work that our veterans need and deserve.”
Photo: Gazometr, Getty Images
