Introduction
When you see a doctor, it is important that they know your medical history. Veterans in the United States get most of their care through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Sometimes they go to VA hospitals, and sometimes they go to doctors in their own community. This second option is called community care. For community care to work well, the VA needs strong computer systems. These systems must share information quickly with local doctors and keep track of bills and benefits so veterans are not overcharged or forgotten. Lawmakers recently questioned how the VA is handling its IT work. They want to know if the changes will help veterans get better care or create new problems.
What Is Community Care?
Community care is a program that lets veterans see private doctors when VA facilities cannot meet their needs. About one‑third of all VA care now comes from community providers. Veterans may use community care if they live far from a VA hospital, if the VA has long wait times, or if a needed service is unavailable. The VA pays the bills and coordinates appointments. For this to work smoothly, medical records and benefit details need to move quickly between VA and community providers. Doctors must know whether a patient is a veteran, what treatments they have received, and what benefits they qualify for. Without good computer systems, veterans might face delays or surprise bills.
Why the VA Is Changing Its IT Systems
On July 15 2025 the acting chief information officer for the VA, Eddie Pool, told Congress about plans to reorganize the VA’s IT workforce. The VA wants to use more automation and better technology to make decisions faster and reduce bureaucracy. The agency requested funding for about 7 000 full‑time IT employees in 2026, which is 11.7 % fewer than the previous year. Since January, around 1 200 IT workers have taken early retirement or left under a voluntary program, and $89 million has been shifted to other needs.
Some lawmakers worry that cutting staff will hurt services. Representative Nikki Budzinski said it seemed as though the VA was celebrating the loss of experienced workers. She and others warned that removing support roles could tire out the remaining staff and make it harder to maintain systems. There are also concerns that poor planning could create new delays. For example, a tool that tracks community care bills was paused because of a code problem. This caused a backlog of claims and raised fears that veterans might be billed for co‑pays more than a year old. A recent government report said the VA’s plan for its IT workforce is incomplete. Careful planning and enough skilled workers are vital when making changes.
How New IT Helps Veterans
Even with these challenges, better technology is already helping many veterans. After the PACT Act—a law that expands benefits for veterans exposed to toxic substances—the VA launched a five‑year plan to modernize its benefits systems. In the past two years the VA has worked on dozens of projects and is now running over 140 modernization efforts. Thanks in part to better technology, more than 796 000 veterans have signed up for VA health care since the PACT Act passed. The VA has processed millions of disability claims and even broke a record by handling 11 052 claims in a single day.
New tools are making the application and claims process easier. The VA website now fills in known contact details automatically and gives hints during phone calls. Training programs now let new employees practice in systems that look like the real ones. A smarter National Work Queue balances the load of disability claims among offices. Decision support tools offer reminders and recommendations so claims processors can find evidence faster. The VA also moved its claims system to the cloud, which increases capacity and resilience. Using application programming interfaces (APIs) helps developers create new tools quickly and securely.
Importantly, the VA is now combining data from many systems. This gives staff a more complete picture of each veteran, including their service history and contact information. Such improvements reduce waiting times, prevent errors, and build trust. Veterans can check their records, schedule appointments, and communicate with providers through a single portal, which is especially helpful for those living far from VA facilities.
Connecting to Community Providers
To make community care work, the VA and outside doctors must exchange information. The Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) program will create a single health record that works with the Department of Defense and community providers. The goals include sharing records from military service through later life, giving doctors a full view of a veteran’s history, and improving appointment scheduling. Veterans will use a portal called My VA Health to manage appointments and messages online.
In 2023 the VA launched the Veteran Interoperability Pledge, inviting community health systems to share data. Thirteen systems, including Kaiser Permanente and UC Davis, signed up. The pledge has three goals: correctly identify veterans, connect them with resources, and coordinate care “responsively and reliably”. In September 2024 the VA released an Interoperability API, allowing health systems that use the Epic or Oracle health record systems to access VA data in real time. In its first year the API processed 10 million queries and confirmed 200 000 veterans. At Stanford Health alone, 12 000 veterans were confirmed in the first three months, and nearly half had conditions linked to toxic exposures. These tools help doctors know a patient is a veteran, see their history, and refer them for benefits.
Members of Congress see the value of this work. During a 2025 hearing, Chairman Tom Barrett noted that when a veteran walks into a new clinic—VA or private—the doctor needs to know past medications, lab results, and mental health history. Barrett said that community care is VA care, and veterans deserve the same high‑quality treatment wherever they go. The VA has made progress exchanging records with large hospitals, but smaller clinics still struggle. The 2018 MISSION Act required the VA to modernize its IT and expand community care. Data sharing also ensures that veterans receive free care during a suicidal crisis, as required by the PACT Act.
Challenges to Watch
Modernizing IT is not easy. Cutting staff could leave too few people to maintain and improve systems. Mistakes in code can cause big problems, such as the claim backlog created by the Program Integrity Tool. The Government Accountability Office says the VA needs a better workforce plan. Rural clinics may lack the technology to connect to the VA’s systems. The Interoperability API currently works only with certain electronic record systems, and some hospitals may struggle to integrate it. Privacy is also a concern: more data sharing means stricter security measures are needed to protect veterans’ information.
Conclusion
Upgrading the VA’s computer systems is about more than new software. It means shorter waits, fewer errors, and better health for veterans. The PACT Act modernization shows that improved technology can process more claims and help more veterans. New tools balance workloads and give staff automatic reminders. The EHR modernization and Interoperability Pledge help community providers see complete records. With one‑third of VA care coming from community providers, these connections are essential. Still, leaders must make careful plans, keep skilled workers, and support small clinics to join the system. When done well, better IT will allow veterans to get great care close to home and ensure that their service is honored in every clinic they visit.