INDIANAPOLIS, IN — The Department of Veterans Affairs deployed its Federal Electronic Health Record system at three Indiana hospitals and 16 affiliated clinics earlier this month, extending a multiyear technology overhaul that the agency aims to complete across its medical system by 2031.
The deployments cover the Northern Indiana Health Care System hospitals in Fort Wayne and Marion and the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis. More than 102,000 veterans and 6,000 employees are affected by the Indiana transition, according to the VA.
The expansion brings the number of VA hospitals receiving the system in 2026 to 11. Nationwide, more than 617,000 veterans and 35,000 VA clinicians and other employees are now using the Federal EHR, the department reported.
The system is designed to make patient records available across the VA, Department of War and other federal partners while incorporating health information from private-sector providers. The VA also expects the platform to improve continuity of care when veterans move between facilities and reduce unnecessary repeat testing caused by inaccessible prior results.
“VA has now deployed this modern EHR system at 11 hospitals in 2026 — nearly doubling the number of deployments seen in the previous five years,” VA Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence stated.
The rollout follows years of difficulties with the VA’s electronic-record modernization program. The department attributed some problems at its first six deployment sites to local customization of the system and has shifted toward a more standardized implementation across facilities.
The VA also consolidated oversight of the modernization effort into a single governing council, increased direct engagement with facilities preparing for deployment and hired additional employees to support the transition, according to the agency.
The Indiana implementation follows deployments in Michigan in April and southern Ohio and Kentucky in June.
The VA plans its final 2026 deployments in October at the Alaska VA Healthcare System in Anchorage and the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center in Cleveland.
The department’s current schedule calls for the Federal EHR to reach every VA medical facility by 2031.
More information about the modernization program is available at https://digital.va.gov/ehr-modernization.
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