Former Georgia Republican congressman Doug Collins – President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) – told lawmakers this week that, if confirmed, one of his top priorities will be improving the rollout of the VA’s Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program.
The EHRM program aims to provide a seamless experience for veterans as they transition from receiving care under the Department of Defense (DoD) to receiving care under the VA, with a single fully integrated EHR system.
However, the program has faced a troubled rollout riddled with underreported costs, deficiencies in training, and diminished employee morale. The program is currently in the middle of a “program reset” while the VA and its contractor Oracle Cerner focus on improvements at the six sites where the EHR system is currently deployed.
Last month, 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.
Collins told members of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on Tuesday that the EHRM program has gone “too many years and cost too many billions of dollars without finding a solution.”
“My commitment is one of the very first priorities of this, if confirmed, is to get in and figure out why, and put this on a bigger time frame to get this medical health records issue solved,” Collins said.
The VA nominee noted that the VA is “special in who we care for, but we’re not unique” when it comes to providing healthcare.
“There’s no reason in the world we cannot get this done,” he stressed. “When I say that we’re going to make this a priority, it means that … I’m going to look at it from fresh eyes.”
In fact, Collins said he believes the VA can move quicker on its EHRM rollout and may not need to wait over a year until its next deployment. Collins said he would talk with Oracle Cerner and VA staff to determine if this is a viable option.
“If confirmed, I’m going to gather together members of my staff that will be specifically tasked to as soon as possible within the first days of this administration, to see what is the issue,” Collins said. “Why is it waiting? And why did the previous administration, who just left, say that they may try to start it back in ’26? I’m not sure why a year would take here.”
“I believe that we can do it and do it properly, not rushed. There’s enough information there that I believe we can actually get it done quicker, but it’s going to take looking at,” he added.
The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to approve the nomination of Collins to serve as VA secretary. His nomination now moves to the full Senate for a vote, which is expected to take place next week.
