The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced on Monday that it officially restarted deployments of its Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) program, with the Federal EHR system going live at four Michigan facilities on April 11.
The VA said it deployed the system to the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, VA Battle Creek Medical Center, VA Detroit Healthcare System, and VA Saginaw Healthcare System.
The Michigan launch marks the VA’s first new rollout in years, and the first wave of 13 planned deployments in 2026 under the VA’s accelerated EHRM schedule.
The restart is a significant milestone for VA’s long-troubled EHR modernization effort, which the department paused in April 2023 alongside contractor Oracle Health – formerly Oracle Cerner – after users raised concerns at early deployment sites.
“These first EHR deployments in 2026 represent real progress toward a unified electronic health record that strengthens care delivery for our patients and providers,” said VA Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence in a press release. “With our Michigan sites now live, we are building strong momentum as we prepare for the next wave of implementation.”
The VA attributed the restart to a series of changes made since the pause, including fixing problems related to the initial rollout of the EHR system at the original six sites, streamlining decision-making under a single council that answers to top VA leaders, getting local VA facilities more involved, and hiring more staff to support deployments.
The department said it hired dozens of staff to support the Michigan rollout and other locations and is in the process of hiring 400 people in total.
Under VA’s current 2026 schedule, the department plans four deployments in June at Chillicothe VA Medical Center (VAMC) in Chillicothe, Ohio; Cincinnati VAMC in Cincinnati, Ohio; Cincinnati VAMC-Fort Thomas in Fort Thomas, Ky.; and Dayton VAMC in Dayton, Ohio.
Three deployments are slated for August at Fort Wayne VAMC in Fort Wayne, Ind.; Marion VAMC in Marion, Ind.; and Richard L. Roudebush VAMC in Indianapolis. VA also plans October deployments at Alaska VA Healthcare System in Anchorage and Louis Stokes Cleveland VAMC in Cleveland.
According to a budget document from the VA, the department plans to deploy the Federal EHR system to 26 additional sites in fiscal year 2027. The VA has not yet released a detailed, site-by-site deployment schedule for those deployments.
Congress has given the VA until June 1, 2026, to provide that schedule, along with staffing projections, certification that currently deployed sites have met baseline performance metrics, and confirmation of four consecutive incident-free deployments.