The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) released an updated artificial intelligence (AI) strategy this week that includes plans to incorporate AI in the Federal Electronic Health Record (EHR) as AI tools are validated.
The VA’s strategy lays out five priority areas to help the agency “execute on the AI opportunity.” Those priority areas include expanding employee access to AI tools, reimagining major workflows using AI, investing in foundational data and infrastructure for AI, establishing an AI-ready workforce, and increasing veterans’ trust in VA’s utilization of AI.
“Advances in [AI] are enabling computers to perform increasingly complex tasks, from summarizing documents and drafting clinical notes to assisting with claims processing,” the strategy says. “These tools are real, effective, and ready to be used to improve how the [VA] delivers care and benefits.”
However, when it comes to the Federal EHR – which the agency is implementing in its Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) program – VA plans to take a cautious approach to AI implementation.
“These efforts are essential, but with AI, the use cases are still emerging, and we often do not yet know what should be standardized,” the strategy says.
“VA is taking a dual-track approach by enabling early AI experimentation while allowing those lessons to inform future standards,” it adds. “As AI tools are validated and show worth, they will be incorporated into the EHR and many other information technology platforms through coordination between innovators and the teams managing those systems today.”
The VA has been scaling AI use cases across the department in 2025. In an interview with MeriTalk, VA Chief AI Officer (CAIO) Charles Worthington said the number of AI use cases in the VA’s inventory increased by over 100 from 2023 to 2024.
One use case he highlighted is an “ambient scribe” that assists in clinical encounters. This tool utilizes natural language processing to summarize the encounter for the patient’s EHR, saving doctors vital time.
“The ultimate payoff is going to be basically equipping people to just do their jobs with a lot more effectiveness and efficiency,” Worthington told MeriTalk.
Similar to the ambient scribe, the VA’s new AI strategy highlighted a vision in which “AI agents” will assist in “real-time transcription of clinician-patient interactions, auto-generate structured notes, suggest billing codes, and recommend evidence-informed treatment options.”
“These capabilities will begin to reframe the EHR as a more adaptive, context-aware copilot, which will reduce administrative burden and enable providers to focus more on patient care and less on paperwork,” the strategy says. “They will enable interoperable applications that supplement EHR native capabilities, integrating with legacy and new EHRs to facilitate smooth transition.”
Thus far, the VA has deployed the new EHR system to six out of the 164 VA medical centers. Aside from the 13 planned deployments in 2026, the VA has not yet released a schedule for the remaining 145 sites.
The agency is planning to accelerate its deployments after spending over two years in “reset” mode for its EHRM program. As part of the EHRM program reset, the VA and contractor Oracle Health – formerly Oracle Cerner – paused all deployments to address user concerns.