U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence visited the Dayton VA Medical Center to talk about the highly anticipated rollout of a modern electronic medical record system.
He met July 23 with Dayton VA officials and staff to talk about the new Federal Electronic Health Record system scheduled to start in 2026.
Lawrence said the new operating system will offer VA patients better care and allow doctors to spend more time with those patients.
"So the visit has been very positive today," he told reporters. "The team's on schedule from my perspective, and part of what I wanted to do was listen to their concerns because as the person the secretary has appointed to be in charge of this project, I want to take back some things about what we can do better."
The Deputy Secretary said the Federal EHR system will place veterans' full medical histories in one location, improving both customer service and overall convenience.
Plans for the program began in 2018 but were met with challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, then put on pause during the Biden administration.
"They were struggling to get it going and they paused for a couple years… and now this is the schedule the secretary announced shortly after he got inaugurated," Lawrence said.
The Dayton VA is one of 13 in the country that will implement the new software in 2026. A full national rollout is expected by 2031.
The deputy secretary also noted that while streamlining within the VA nationally will continue, job cuts will not be to the levels previously announced and some additional hiring will take place.
