Oracle govt chairman Larry Ellison referred to as to testify over US well being system overspend
The US Home Committee for Veterans’ Affairs (VA) has unanimously handed a movement that can imply Oracle govt chairman and chief expertise officer, Larry Ellison, and the corporate’s present CEO, Mike Sicilia, will likely be referred to as to testify over overspend on a significant digital healthcare information system.
Wednesday’s Home Committee on Veterans’ Affairs oversight listening to on the Digital Well being File Modernisation (EHRM) programme raised questions over why prices of the system had escalated.
Final month, the VA raised the ceiling on Oracle’s digital well being file modernisation contract from $10bn to over $27bn via a no-bid extension. Congresswoman Maxine Dexter referred to as on Oracle executives to testify underneath oath concerning the $17bn enhance, the corporate’s efficiency, and whether or not veterans and taxpayers are getting what they have been promised.
The Digital Well being File system contract, initially signed in the course of the first Trump administration, connects VA medical amenities with the Division of Conflict, the US Coast Guard, the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and taking part group care suppliers. It’s being deployed to allow clinicians to entry a veteran’s full medical historical past in a single location.
Nevertheless, the programme has overrun and is over price range. The US Authorities Accountability Workplace has beforehand raised issues concerning the VA’s digital well being file modernisation effort. As of August 2026, VA had not totally carried out 14 of GAO’s 18 suggestions associated to value estimates, scheduling, programme administration, person adoption, satisfaction and operational testing.
Of the 170 well being clinics the VA had been tasked with managing via the EHRM programme, solely 17 have been accomplished, in accordance with Nikki Budzinski, rating member of the subcommittee on expertise modernisation, which holds jurisdiction over the EHRM programme. She described the low deployment quantity as “ridiculous”.
Addressing Paul Lawrence, chief working officer on the VA, congresswoman Budzinski, mentioned: “You’ve got had eight years on the VA to execute on this, and fairly frankly that is all simply an overrun value. You aren’t managing this venture. That is only a clean cheque for Oracle.”
When requested who’s chargeable for the programme, Lawrence mentioned one other group was till he took over the job in 2025.
Budzinski additionally raised questions over why the VA had not employed a chief data officer till March 2025, and requested if Oracle can be returning to Congress in two years to ask for more cash. Lawrence claimed Oracle wouldn’t be asking for more cash to finish the venture.
Mark Takano, the democratic rating member of the Home Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, mentioned: “On the highest of the $10bn already blown via in eight years, [you are] throwing $17bn at Larry Ellison, whose firm already mentioned that it will eat the associated fee.”
“When the corporate chargeable for a taxpayer-funded contract that might develop from $10bn to roughly $27bn refuses to take a seat earlier than Congress and reply questions, this committee can’t totally do its job,” mentioned Dexter. “Veterans deserve a well being information system that works, and taxpayers should know their cash is being spent responsibly. A personal, closed-door roundtable can’t substitute public congressional oversight. Oracle’s leaders should seem earlier than this committee and reply for this contract.”
