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September 27, 2026

Takeaways from the most recent news in the technology and policies shaping healthcare.

Government

VA Moves to Lift Oracle Health EHR Contract Past $10B

By Healthcare Technology News ·

The Department of Veterans Affairs wants to push its electronic health record contract with Oracle Health past its current ceiling, which is already near $10 billion, and extend the agreement by three years, FedScoop reported and Becker's Hospital Review summarized on Aug. 12.

According to contracting documents, the VA reached that ceiling ahead of schedule. The reasons: unanticipated technical complexity and extensive site-specific customization needed to deploy the system across facilities. In practice, that means the modernization effort has cost more and taken longer than budgeted, a familiar pattern for the troubled rollout, which Oracle inherited when it acquired Cerner.

The program has faced repeated delays, patient-safety concerns, and cost scrutiny since it began. Expanding the ceiling gives the VA room to keep the deployment moving, but it also signals that the true price and timeline of standardizing records across the nation's largest integrated health system remain moving targets. Congressional and oversight attention is likely to follow.

Sources

More in Government

Government

AMA, AHA Push to Exempt Doctors From $103K H-1B Fee

The AMA and AHA are asking DHS to exempt clinicians from a proposed $103,265 H-1B visa fee they say would gut physician recruiting in underserved areas.

Why it matters: Hospitals depend on foreign-trained physicians to staff rural and underserved communities, and a six-figure visa fee could deepen existing shortages.

Government

DOJ Accuses UCSF Medical School of Racial Discrimination

The DOJ's Civil Rights Division accused UCSF's medical school of race-based discrimination in admissions from 2023 to 2025, the latest in a wave of federal findings against medical schools.

Why it matters: Federal scrutiny of medical school admissions could reshape how the next generation of physicians is selected and the diversity of the clinical workforce.

Government

Experts Shift Suicide Prevention Toward Limiting Gun Access

Mental health experts are pushing suicide prevention toward broadly limiting firearm access, arguing individual risk prediction is unreliable.

Why it matters: Firearms drive most US suicide deaths, so means restriction could save more lives than screening tools that struggle to predict who is at risk.