The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is planning to roll out its Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program to nine additional medical facilities in 2026, bringing the total number of deployment sites in 2026 to 13.
The announcement comes after the VA announced in late December that by mid-2026 it would deploy the Federal EHR system to four Michigan facilities: Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Detroit, and Saginaw.
The VA has not yet identified where the nine additional sites will be. The agency said the nine VA sites “will be announced later this year following planning sessions among officials from VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization Office, regional and local VA medical leaders, VA clinicians, and EHR vendor Oracle Health.”
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 new deployment plans come after the VA has spent almost two years in “reset” mode. As part of the EHRM program reset, the VA and contractor Oracle Health – formerly Oracle Cerner – paused all deployments to focus on improvements at the six sites where the EHR system is currently deployed.
“America’s veterans deserve a medical records system that’s integrated across all VA and DoD components, and that is exactly what we will deliver,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a statement late Thursday.
“We can and will move faster on this important priority. But we’re going to listen to our doctors, nurses, and vendor partners along the way in order to ensure patient safety, quality, and customer service,” Collins added.
The VA said it will pursue a “market-based approach to site selection for its deployments going forward.” The agency said this will allow it to “scale up” the number of concurrent deployments at VA medical facilities.
The announcement to ramp up deployments comes after officials from the VA, Government Accountability Office, and VA Office of Inspector General told lawmakers last week that it will be “impossible” to complete the EHRM program on its current timeline.
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 164 VA medical centers.
“If they deploy in 2026 to Michigan, and that’s a huge if, … you still have two years remaining on that contract with 160 sites. It’s impossible,” said Carol Harris, a director of information technology and cybersecurity at GAO. “The answer is, no, they’re not going to be able to deploy to all the sites within the remaining time of the contract.”