The VA modernization effort underway at the Department of Veterans Affairs is one of the most sweeping overhauls the agency has undertaken in decades, touching nearly every aspect of how veterans receive health care, from how appointments are scheduled to how medical records are shared across the system.
John Bartrum, the VA’s Under Secretary for Health, is leading the effort under a restructuring initiative called RISE, Restructure for Impact of Sustainable Effort. The goals of the VA modernization effort are straightforward: reduce bureaucracy, eliminate redundancies, and redirect resources toward the front lines of veteran care.
This year alone, the VA is spending $4.8 billion modernizing its roughly 170 hospitals and 1,300 sites of care across the country. Approximately $1 billion of that is going toward rolling out a new electronic health record system, with recent go-lives in Dayton, Cincinnati, and Chillicothe, Ohio, following earlier deployments in Michigan. Additional rollouts in Indiana are coming soon.
The VA modernization effort addresses a long-standing criticism of the system, that inconsistency from one facility to the next creates confusion for both veterans and providers. Under the new model, policymakers set policy, regional leaders implement it, and clinical staff focus on patient care, creating a clearer chain of command and a more consistent experience for veterans nationwide.
Technology is central to the overhaul. The VA has expanded its use of AI Scribe, an ambient documentation tool that speeds up clinical note-taking in primary care settings without removing physician review. The agency is also piloting an AI tool that flags potentially dangerous drug interactions for veterans taking five or more medications simultaneously, a meaningful safety improvement for an older patient population that often manages complex medication regimens.
On the scheduling front, the VA modernization effort includes a pilot program that would allow veterans to self-schedule both VA and community care appointments through a single external provider system, a shift that could meaningfully reduce one of the most persistent sources of veteran frustration with the system.
Data sharing between VA facilities and outside community care providers is also being addressed. As the VA prepares to recompete its community care contract, officials built the new request for proposals specifically to accelerate how quickly data from outside providers flows back into VA systems.
Bartrum, himself a 42-year veteran, framed the entire effort simply: “Everything we do is about enhancing veteran care. We’re here to serve veterans and we’re listening to their common concerns.”
For federal employees who are veterans or who have family members receiving VA care, these changes represent a significant shift in how the system is designed to function. It’s one built around coordination and consistency rather than the fragmented experience many veterans have encountered in the past.
