VA Taps AI Partner CliniComp for Critical Care Amid Broader EHR Woes

SAN DIEGO, CA – July 28, 2026 – The Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded a new contract to healthcare IT leader CliniComp to modernize the Intensive Care Unit at the VA Salem Health Care System. While on the surface a routine technology upgrade, the decision illuminates a quiet but critical counter-narrative to the VA's headline-grabbing, and profoundly troubled, multi-billion-dollar Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) program with Oracle Cerner.

This new implementation in Virginia's Roanoke Valley is more than just an expansion of CliniComp's footprint; it's a reinforcement of a decades-long partnership, showcasing a model of technological adoption built on targeted deployment, proven reliability, and clinician-centric design. As the broader VA system grapples with the fallout from its primary EHRM rollout, the CliniComp contract provides a case study in a different path forward—one that prioritizes stability and incremental success, particularly in the most critical of care environments.

A Foundation of Trust in a Sea of Change

CliniComp is no newcomer to the VA's complex ecosystem. With a relationship spanning over four decades, the San Diego-based company has become a trusted fixture, providing clinical information systems to 43 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs) nationwide. This latest contract, valued at approximately $1.9 million for its initial year, builds on a proven track record within the Mid-Atlantic region.

The deployment at VA Salem expands the company’s presence within Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 6, a fast-growing network serving veterans in Virginia and North Carolina. This follows a successful 2025 expansion of CliniComp’s solution into the Medical-Surgical unit at the VA Hampton Health Care System, also in VISN 6. That project was lauded by staff for creating continuity in patient documentation between the ICU and other units, a move described as a "game-changer" for care coordination. This pattern suggests a deliberate regional strategy to build integrated clinical systems on a platform that has already earned clinicians' trust.

This trust is the cornerstone of the company's approach. "This award reflects more than the strength of our technology; it reflects the trusted partnerships we have built throughout the VA over many years," said Sandra Johnson, Senior Vice President of Client Services at CliniComp. "Every successful implementation, every enhancement, and every customer interaction contributes to that trust. We look forward to partnering closely with the VA Salem team to deliver a solution that supports clinicians while helping improve care for our nation's Veterans."

The 'How': AI and Service That Just Works

What sets this implementation apart is not just the relationship, but the technology itself. CliniComp’s “New Era EHR” is built on two key differentiators: a “Native AI” platform and a “System as a Service” (SYaaS) delivery model. Unlike systems where artificial intelligence is a bolted-on feature, CliniComp's AI is embedded in the platform's core, designed to automate tasks, surface critical information in real-time, and reduce the cognitive burden on clinicians.

This is a stark contrast to the challenges faced by the main Oracle Cerner EHR, where government reports from 2024 noted that 75% of users disagreed that the system made them as efficient as possible. CliniComp’s clinician-designed workflows, coupled with seamless integration of bedside medical devices like ventilators and infusion pumps, aim to return time and focus to the provider, allowing them to concentrate on the patient, not the platform.

The SYaaS model further distinguishes this approach. It bundles software, hardware, implementation, and 24/7 support into a predictable, all-inclusive cost. This is a crucial advantage for government agencies navigating complex procurement cycles and seeking to avoid the spiraling ownership costs that often accompany large IT projects. Perhaps most critically for an ICU, the model is built on a foundation of extreme reliability. The company boasts a record of virtually no unplanned downtime since 1983—a claim that stands in sharp relief against the hundreds of outages and performance degradations that have plagued the initial Oracle Cerner sites.

This combination of an all-in-one service model and high reliability earned CliniComp the 2024 MedTech Breakthrough award for "Best Electronic Health Record Service," with judges praising its ability to eliminate the fragmentation and inflexibility of typical EHR solutions.

A Tale of Two Modernizations

The VA Salem contract exists within the shadow of the VA's larger EHRM initiative, a project intended to replace the VA's aging VistA system with a single, unified platform from Oracle Cerner. That effort, initiated in 2018, has been identified by the VA’s own Inspector General as a major management challenge, beset by patient safety concerns, functionality issues, and massive cost overruns.

While the VA pours billions into rectifying the Oracle Cerner system, CliniComp's targeted, high-performance solution offers a different model. It demonstrates the value of specialized systems that are interoperable with the VA's legacy infrastructure—CliniComp's platform interfaces bidirectionally with VistA and its CPRS interface—while delivering best-in-class functionality for specific, high-acuity needs. This is not a wholesale replacement but a strategic enhancement, plugging a state-of-the-art solution into a critical care gap.

This dynamic is not new. In 2018, CliniComp challenged the VA's original no-bid contract award to Cerner, arguing it could provide a capable, interoperable system for billions less. While that challenge was unsuccessful, the continued success of its focused deployments within the VA provides a persistent, real-world counterpoint to the monolithic, one-size-fits-all approach.

The CliniComp strategy appears to be one of quiet, steady expansion, proving its value one high-stakes environment at a time. For a federal department under immense pressure to improve outcomes for veterans, this reliable performance offers a compelling, low-risk alternative for modernizing essential services.

The Bottom Line: Safer, Smarter Care for Veterans

For the veterans receiving care in the VA Salem ICU and the clinicians at their bedside, the theoretical debates over modernization strategy are secondary to a single question: does the technology work? In a critical care setting, system instability or a poorly designed user interface can have life-or-death consequences. An EHR that is unreliable, cumbersome, or prone to outages introduces unacceptable risk.

This is where the impact of the CliniComp contract will be most profoundly felt. By implementing a system known for its stability and clinician-centric design, the VA Salem ICU is being equipped with a tool designed to enhance, not hinder, clinical excellence. A unified patient record that pulls data automatically from myriad devices provides a complete, real-time picture of a patient's condition, enabling faster and more informed decisions.

While veteran advocacy groups have rightly raised alarms about the patient safety issues tied to the larger EHRM rollout, the selection of a proven, high-reliability system for a critical care unit represents a clear commitment to mitigating those risks. This contract suggests that, at least in some corners of the VA, the path to modernization is being paved not with disruptive, high-risk gambles, but with trusted partners and technology that is built to support the fundamental mission of caring for those who have served.