The Senate has confirmed Paul Lawrence to become the deputy secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), putting him in charge of overseeing the VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) program.
Senate lawmakers voted to confirm Lawrence – who previously served as the under secretary of benefits within the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) during the first Trump administration – on March 27 by a 51-45 vote.
During his Feb. 19 confirmation hearing, Lawrence pledged that he would work to get the EHRM program “back on track.” The program has faced a troubled rollout riddled with underreported costs, deficiencies in training, and diminished employee morale.
“If confirmed, I want to … figure out what the plan should be in terms of holding everybody accountable for what’s supposed to take place: to get the most benefits as quickly as possible to our veterans within the amount of money we have,” Lawrence said.
“I understand the frustration, and I pledge to work as best, as hard as I can, to get this done,” he added.
The VA’s EHRM program aims to provide a seamless experience for veterans as they transition from receiving care under the Department of Defense to receiving care under the VA, with a single, fully integrated EHR system.
The VA began modernizing the system in 2020 but paused deployments in 2023 as part of a “program reset” due to user concerns.
The VA’s current contract for the EHRM program is set to expire in May 2028. However, the agency has only deployed the new EHR system to six out of the 164 VA medical centers.
In December, the VA announced it plans to resume the rollout of its EHRM program in mid-2026 by deploying the Federal EHR system to four Michigan facilities.
Last month, the VA announced it is also planning to deploy the program to nine additional medical facilities in 2026, bringing the total number of deployment sites in 2026 to 13.
Lawrence committed to give the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs a detailed update on the EHRM program “after a reasonable period of time” – a request made by Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.