The Department of Veterans Affairs is forging ahead with its nationwide overhaul of electronic health records, launching the new Federal Electronic Health Record system at four additional medical sites in Ohio and Kentucky.
The decision marks another major step in the VA’s long-running effort to modernize the way veterans’ health data is managed, though many are still remembering the rocky beginnings of this billion-dollar project.
This rollout covers the Cincinnati, Chillicothe, and Dayton VA Medical Centers in Ohio, as well as the Cincinnati VA Medical Center-Fort Thomas facility across the Kentucky border.
According to the VA, the expansion will provide access to over 107,000 veterans and 7,200 employees in southern Ohio, integrating care data into a single streamlined system that can be shared across facilities.
This marks the second expansion this year following a multi-year pause after numerous technical headaches, error reports, and safety complaints plagued earlier iterations.
The Federal EHR system, developed by Cerner — now part of Oracle Health — was initially implemented in a few Pacific Northwest hospitals before problems forced the VA to hit the brakes. This time, officials insist the bugs have been squashed and lessons have been learned.
VA Secretary Doug Collins told members of Congress that the project’s progress is visible and measurable.
“How I know this is working … is that I’m having center executive directors and employees at what is supposed to be next year’s facilities hearing from their colleagues, and they’re saying ‘We’re ready to go now,’” Collins explained. His comments came before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee overseeing military and veterans affairs.
It’s no secret that the VA’s first run with this system, deployed between 2020 and 2022, was a mess. Patients’ health records disappeared between systems, appointments were missed, and costs surged higher than anyone predicted.
In 2023, the department paused implementation to troubleshoot reliability and safety failures that were putting veterans at risk.
Still, officials say the reboot is showing promise. The April deployment across four Michigan VA sites brought the new system to 200,000 veterans and 10,000 staff, which the VA said earned “exceptionally positive” feedback from administrators.
Officials claim this latest round of updates fixed hundreds of glitches that caused delays and errors in the previous versions.
Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence emphasized that the department added new staff and streamlined management to ensure this push runs smoother than before.
The goal, he said, is nothing less than a fully unified, interoperable system connecting veterans’ care coast to coast — linking medical records seamlessly with facilities under both the Department of War and the VA.
The effort is enormous and expensive. The VA’s fiscal 2027 budget includes a $4.2 billion request to keep building out this system to all 170 medical centers nationwide. Lawmakers and watchdogs will no doubt be watching to make sure those billions aren’t burned on another glitch-filled disaster.
Collins maintains that the project’s resumption has been methodical, transparent, and disciplined. “We’ve been listening to our employees and our veterans. We paused for good reason,” he told reporters. “Now we’re turning that experience into real progress.”
The department’s next targets are three Indiana medical centers slated to switch over in August, followed by facilities in Alaska and Cleveland, Ohio in October.
If that pace holds, 2025 could see the most aggressive expansion yet — but skeptics argue the VA’s ambitious calendar needs to slow down until the technology proves itself in heavy use.
Veteran advocates remain cautiously optimistic. Many believe a unified system is long overdue, especially one that integrates with systems used by the War Department.
That integration could finally eliminate gaps between military and VA health data that have dogged U.S. recordkeeping for decades.
However, there’s still plenty of room for skepticism. After all, the same VA leaders who claimed success before the 2023 shutdown are the ones promising perfection now.
Conservatives have reason to question whether this massive tech infusion is truly about better care — or just another bloated federal program with slick talking points and soaring price tags.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. If the Federal EHR program succeeds, it could revolutionize the quality and continuity of care for millions of veterans nationwide.
But if it falters, it risks becoming yet another chapter in a long history of Washington’s broken promises to those who served. As the VA presses forward, accountability will be the watchword — especially from a Congress less interested in glossy briefings and more interested in measurable results.
One thing’s for certain: veterans deserve a health system as strong and reliable as the Americans who wore the uniform. Whether this new digital rollout actually delivers that remains the question.
