AUSTIN HIGGINS: The Case For Completing VA’s EHR Transition

I’ve spent over 15 years since leaving the military helping Fortune 500, middle market and growth companies deploy technology to serve customers. I’ve seen what it costs when technology modernizations fail and what it takes to see them through to the end. No project I’ve worked on carries the weight of this one. When the VA’s electronic health record (EHR) system works, veterans get the care they’ve earned. When it doesn’t, they pay for it with their health.

When I left active duty, I had to bring printed and faxed copies of my medical records with me to every doctor. When I applied for benefits from the VA, I had to scan and send documentation from both military and civilian doctors. There was no option for a single record of my continuous care from service to civilian to the VA. This caused months of delays and missed care.

That experience didn’t just stay with me as a veteran. It shaped how I think as a technologist. The technology we create can have a profound impact on the world around us and the people we serve. Outdated infrastructure, legacy systems and inefficient methods can create real harm.

The VA must continue to modernize its EHR system. Not because it’s the technically correct decision, but because the 9 million veterans the VA serves are still living the consequences of the one that hasn’t been made yet.

Oracle Health, through an acquisition of health records company Cerner, was awarded a contract to roll out a modernized records system to solve these challenges. As of 2026, only six of 170 VA medical centers have migrated to the new system and 13 new sites are planned for this year.

The legacy healthcare record system, VistA, was developed in the 1970s and deployed in the 1980s on an architecture that predates the internet. This system is fundamentally incompatible with modern health infrastructure. VistA includes over 130 instances with over 130 unique variations across hospitals and offices. Each has different configurations, customizations and undocumented workarounds built over decades.