House VA Committee votes to subpoena Oracle Health executives over $27B EHR contract

The House Veterans' Affairs Committee voted unanimously to subpoena Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison and CEO Mike Sicilia after the company's contract ceiling for the VA electronic health record modernization project nearly tripled to $27 billion. Lawmakers expressed outrage over Oracle's absence at a September 2026 hearing and its failure to honor a 2022 promise to absorb costs exceeding the original $10 billion budget, while only 17 of 170 medical centers have deployed the system.

House subpoena of Oracle executives

• ▪The House Veterans' Affairs Committee issued subpoenas after Oracle executive Seema Verma declined to attend a congressional hearing, citing scheduling conflicts
• ▪The House Veterans' Affairs Committee voted unanimously 19-0 on September 2, 2026, to subpoena Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison and CEO Mike Sicilia

Contract ceiling tripled to $27B

• ▪The Department of Veterans Affairs modified its electronic health record contract with Oracle, raising the cost ceiling from $10 billion to $27 billion
• ▪The initial $10 billion funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs electronic health record modernization project is scheduled to run out in the first quarter of fiscal year 2027
• ▪The contract modification between the Department of Veterans Affairs and Oracle added three one-year expansion options in August 2026 and extended the project timeline to 2031

Oracle's broken 2022 cost promise

• ▪House Veterans' Affairs Committee members stated they learned about the electronic health record contract's price increase to $27 billion through news coverage rather than direct disclosures from Oracle or the Department of Veterans Affairs
• ▪In 2022, Oracle CEO Mike Sicilia testified to Congress that Oracle would absorb any costs exceeding the original $10 billion electronic health record contract ceiling

EHR deployment progress delays

• ▪The Government Accountability Office reported that the Department of Veterans Affairs has fully implemented only four of 18 recommendations issued since 2020 and lacks a full cost estimate for the electronic health record rollout
• ▪Since the electronic health record modernization contract was signed with Cerner in 2018, only 17 out of 170 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers have deployed the new system
• ▪The Department of Veterans Affairs paused the electronic health record rollout in 2023 to address performance issues, outages, and negative feedback before resuming efforts in April 2026

Congressional accountability concerns

• ▪Representative Greg Murphy expressed frustration during a September 2026 hearing regarding Oracle's requests for additional funding and a perceived lack of accountability
• ▪Department of Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence testified in September 2026 that the electronic health record program is stable, reliable, and back on track within the available budget
• ▪Representative Maxine Dexter stated that Oracle's refusal to testify publicly prevents the House Veterans' Affairs Committee from performing its oversight duties on the taxpayer-funded contract

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