Category: Defense

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs on Saturday deployed the new Federal Electronic Health Record system at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center, Chillicothe VA Medical Center, Dayton VA Medical Center, and the Cincinnati VA Medical Center-Fort Thomas.

This is the second wave of successful EHR deployments in 2026 under VA’s accelerated schedule, which will provide more connected, efficient and patient-centered experiences.

With this launch, more than 107,000 Veterans and 7,200 VA clinicians and staff in the southern Ohio region will benefit from:

• The seamless, hassle-free transfer of military health records among VA, Department of War and other federal partners.
• The integration of health information from private sector facilities into VA’s care for Veterans.
• Medical appointments where VA doctors and nurses spend more time with patients and less time struggling with outdated technology.
• Less time undergoing duplicative tests because prior test results can’t be found.
• An increased ability of VA facilities to share best medical practices with each other.
• Improved continuity of care when Veterans transfer among facilities or need emergency care at facilities they’ve never visited.

“Joe Biden’s VA let this important effort sit nearly dormant for almost two years,” said VA Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence, Ph.D. “Under President Trump, however, we are rapidly expanding this modern EHR system throughout the department to improve experiences for both Veterans and VA employees.”

The Biden Administration put the EHR project on hold after it encountered problems with its early rollout. But the Trump Administration got the project back on track by:

• Fixing hundreds of problems related to the initial rollout of the EHR system at the six original VA sites. Some of these related to efforts by local VA facilities to customize the system, which only complicated the process. Saturday’s rollout focuses on a standardized system that will put all VA facilities on the same page and remove the complexities that caused delays.
• Eliminating the bureaucracy that was holding the project back. Under the Biden Administration, decisions related to EHR modernization were left to several councils that fought among themselves and held up key decisions. VA replaced that unwieldy system with a single council that answers to top VA leaders, increasing accountability and making it easier to reach and implement common sense decisions.
• Getting local facilities more involved. As VA’s lead official on the EHR rollout, VA Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence has visited all 13 deployment sites this year and has engaged directly with facility leaders at each location to answer questions and make sure these sites are ready to go.
• Hiring more people to ensure the rollout goes smoothly. VA has already hired dozens of staff to help with the rollout in Michigan, Ohio and other locations and is in the process of hiring a total of 400 people.

Last weekend’s effort built on the success of VA’s first wave of deployments in Michigan in April 2026, which brought the system to over 200,000 Veterans and over 10,000 clinicians and staff — nearly doubling VA’s user base. Feedback from clinical users and local leadership in Michigan has been exceptionally positive.

Under VA’s accelerated schedule, the following additional EHR deployments will take place this year:

August 2026:

• Fort Wayne VA Medical Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
• Marion VAMC in Marion, Indiana.
• Richard L. Roudebush VAMC in Indianapolis, Indiana.

October 2026:

• Alaska VA Healthcare System in Anchorage, Alaska.
• Louis Stokes Cleveland VAMC in Cleveland, Ohio.

For more information about the EHRM program and the Federal EHR, visit https://digital.va.gov/ehr-modernization.

VA expects a 42% drop in delivery times for thousands of Veterans

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs has streamlined the process of purchasing prosthetic limbs to more efficiently serve thousands of Veterans who receive prosthetics through the VA every year.

Under prior procurement rules, orders for all prosthetic limbs had to be approved by a contracting officer, which meant Veterans had to wait several additional weeks before delivery.

On April 22, 2026, VA Secretary Doug Collins exempted approximately 95% of prosthetic limb orders from contracting officer reviews and determined that only the most expensive prosthetic limbs would continue to be subject to these reviews. Secretary Collins also authorized local purchasing agents to source directly from local suppliers whenever prosthetic limb prices are set by Medicare, in which case there is no negotiation over price and no need for review by a contracting officer.

These commonsense changes have already reduced Veterans’ wait times for prosthetic limbs by 10 days, and VA expects average wait times to fall more than 40 percent – from 94 days to 54 days – as facilities across the nation fully implement this new process.

“Every day counts for Veterans. By removing needless bureaucracy, VA is enabling clinicians and procurement teams to provide Veterans with high-quality prosthetic care, better and faster than before,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins.

More than 45,000 Veterans rely on VA each year for major limb loss care. For more information, visit these sites:

Faster delivery of prosthetics is just the latest example of how the Trump Administration is making VA work better for Veterans. Among other improvements, VA has:

• Enrolled more than 150,000 new Veterans in VA health care in 2026.
• Opened 36 new VA health care facilities since Jan. 20, 2025, expanding health care access for Veterans around the country.
• Reduced the backlog of Veterans waiting for VA benefits by 72% since Jan. 20, 2025, after it increased 24% during the Biden Administration.
• Completed an all-time high of 82,083,918 direct care appointments in FY2025, up 4.1% from FY2024.
• Offered Veterans more than 2.8 million appointments outside of normal operating hours, giving Veterans more timely and convenient options for care.
• Permanently housed 51,936 homeless Veterans across the country in FY2025, the highest total in seven years.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs on May 21 issued a request for proposals to build approximately 220 temporary units to house Veterans at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center north campus.

The RFP invites companies to submit proposals for delivering the housing units by the end of calendar year 2026 in accordance with VA’s clinically driven specifications. Initial proposals are due by June 23, 2026, and VA expects to award the contract, worth up to $30 million, by August 2026.

The RFP is the latest in a long line of actions VA is taking to implement President Trump’s executive order to create the National Center for Warrior Independence on the West LA VAMC campus. VA’s goal is to turn the campus into a beacon of hope and a destination for homeless Veterans from across the nation.

“The West LA VA Medical Center campus lost touch with its true focus decades ago, but that is quickly changing under President Trump,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “Step by step, we are moving toward the president’s vision of a campus that provides housing, treatment and training for thousands of formerly homeless Veterans, offering crucial support on their journey back to self-sufficiency.”

During previous administrations, the 388-acre campus had been mismanaged for years, but under President Trump, VA has been hard at work expanding housing and building the infrastructure required to provide care and training to thousands of Veterans.

• In January 2025, the campus had the capacity to house 955 Veterans.
• Today, the campus can house 1,377 Veterans.
• By the end of 2026, the campus will have the capacity to house 1,670 Veterans.
• By 2027, on-campus housing will accommodate 2,048 Veterans.
• VA plans to add thousands of additional housing units in the coming years and will have more to announce as these decisions are made.

VA has taken several other important steps to ensure the West L.A. campus is better serving homeless Veterans, including:

• Terminating illegal and wasteful West L.A. leases and a license under which the campus allowed the Brentwood School, Safety Park Corporation, and Bridgeland Resources, LLC to use land on the campus in ways that did not principally benefit Veterans. These properties were also leased and licensed under terms that underpaid VA for their fair value by more than $40 million per year.
• Increasing security measures on campus to address safety issues caused by the L.A. Sheriff’s office shortage of thousands of police officers.
• Making Homeless Patient Aligned Care Team services available to all Veterans to provide easier access to clinical care, including treatment for mental health and substance abuse disorders.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs today announced a new clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted therapy, or MDMA-assisted therapy, for the treatment of severe mental health disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder.

The new trial comes after President Trump’s recent executive order on “Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness.” The order aims to increase clinical trial participation and accelerate innovative research models and drug approvals for psychedelic drugs.

VA’s trial, titled “A Randomized Controlled Trial of MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD and Alcohol Use Disorder in U.S. Veterans,” will enroll approximately 80 Veterans and compare outcomes between those receiving MDMA-assisted therapy and those receiving identical psychotherapy with an active placebo. VA is coordinating with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and intends to share data from the trial with FDA.

“We need an all-of-the-above strategy when it comes to improving mental health treatments, and under President Trump, that’s exactly what VA is working to deliver,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “This trial represents an important step in safely evaluating new approaches and innovations to treat Veterans with severe mental health conditions.”

The randomized, placebo-controlled trial of MDMA-assisted therapy will take place at VA Providence Healthcare System, and Veterans will be recruited for the trial from the Providence, Rhode Island, campus and VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven, Connecticut.

The health and safety of Veterans who choose to participate in this trial is VA’s top priority. Investigational treatments will be delivered in a safe, controlled, clinical setting using pharmaceutical grade drugs under careful quality controls, stringent safety protocols that were developed with FDA, and in a setting that includes structured psychotherapy.

Currently, VA is involved in 19 active clinical trials focused on psychedelic therapies for mental health conditions that are supported by more than $23 million in external funding. All VA research, including research into psychedelics, is conducted under strict safety protocols and in full compliance with federal guidelines.

Psychedelic drugs are a class of substances that alter consciousness or awareness and can be organically or synthetically produced. The FDA has granted breakthrough therapy designation to several psychedelic substances, including MDMA, psilocybin and LSD, allowing for expedited review of these drugs. Clinical use of these therapies outside of research will only be considered by VA once FDA approval is granted.

VA strongly discourages self-medicating or attempting to replace other mental health treatment options with psychedelics or any other unprescribed substances. Proven, evidence-based treatments, are currently available at VA facilities to treat Veterans with mental health conditions. Veterans should always consult their health care providers before making any treatment decisions.

The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT07118839).

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs will host Memorial Day ceremonies this weekend at more than 120 VA national cemeteries across the country for 100,000 attendees.

All events and parking are free of charge and open to the public, and will feature wreath-laying ceremonies, commemorative speeches, the playing of Taps and other patriotic events to honor America’s interred service members.

 “This Memorial Day weekend, we invite Americans to join us at a VA national cemetery to honor those who died in defense of our nation,” said VA Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Sam Brown. “Together, we will ensure the legacies of these brave heroes live on for generations.”

All 157 VA National Cemeteries and 35 soldiers’ lots will be open throughout Memorial Day weekend, May 22-25. View the complete list of official VA National Cemetery Memorial Day events and visiting hours at a location near you.

To learn more about volunteer opportunities at VA national cemeteries visit the following NCA webpage.

Members of the public may also make submissions to VA’s Veterans Legacy Memorial  website, which features written tributes, photos, biographies, documents and other information.

The VLM website hosts a memorial page for each of the more than 10.7 million Veterans interred in VA National Cemeteries and VA grant-funded cemeteries, Department of War-managed cemeteries, such as Arlington National Cemetery, U.S. Park Service National Cemeteries, American Battle Monuments Commission cemeteries and in thousands of private cemeteries nationwide where Veterans have received a VA-provided gravesite marker since 1996.

For information about VA burial benefits, visit any one of VA’s 157 national cemetery locations, visit online at VA burial benefits and memorial items or call toll-free at 800-827-1000. To pre-plan a burial for you and your family, visit the National Cemetery Administration’s pre-need eligibility website.

More than 5.4 million people — including 4.1 million Veterans from the Revolutionary War to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — are buried in VA national cemeteries. NCA honors eligible Veterans, active duty servicemembers, and eligible family members with final resting places in national shrines and with lasting tributes that commemorate their service and sacrifice to the nation.

 

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced that 78% of VA hospitals that received an Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating earned four or five stars in the latest annual report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

That’s the highest percentage since CMS first started rating VA facilities in 2023. Additionally, VA accounted for nearly 15% of all 5-star rated hospitals in the 2026 report.

The new report marks the fourth consecutive year that VA facilities have outperformed non-VA facilities, and it’s the second year in a row that no VA hospital received a one-star rating. The percentage of VA hospitals that received an Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating and received four or five stars has grown dramatically during the Trump Administration:

• 2023, 67%
• 2024, 58%
• 2025, 77%
• 2026, 78%

“The Trump Administration has a proven track record of improving Veterans’ care, and these ratings underscore that success,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “We look forward to continuing to deliver the results Veterans have earned at VA facilities across the nation.”

View the star ratings for each facility and methodology for the ratings.

The latest CMS report is just the latest example of how the Trump Administration is making VA work better for Veterans. Among other improvements, VA has:

• Enrolled more than 140,000 new Veterans in VA healthcare in 2026.
• Opened 35 new VA health care facilities since Jan. 20, 2025, expanding health care access for Veterans around the country.
• Reduced the backlog of Veterans waiting for VA benefits by 70% since Jan. 20, 2025, after it increased 24% during the Biden Administration.
• Completed 82,083,918 direct care appointments in FY2025, up 4.1% from FY2024.
• Offered Veterans more than 2.5 million appointments outside of normal operating hours, giving Veterans more timely and convenient options for care.
• Permanently housed 51,936 homeless Veterans across the country in FY2025, the highest total in seven years.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs approved $596 million in VA infrastructure improvements in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026, part of a record $4.8 billion in non-recurring maintenance funds VA will deploy this year.

VA’s FY 2026 $4.8 billion NRM budget  is the largest in the department’s history.

The funds will be used by VA medical facilities for significant maintenance, replacements and upgrades needed to maintain and improve operational capability and healthcare delivery.

“The Trump Administration is making massive improvements in VA healthcare and benefits, and Veterans are noticing,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “The historic investments we’re making in VA facilities across the nation are another reason why we’ve added more than 125,000 VA healthcare enrollees in 2026 alone.”

The list of second quarter projects can be found here.

Of the total $4.8 billion committed for FY 2026, VA has obligated $1.064 billion through the second quarter. Obligation of funds includes:

• $795 million to repair and upgrade outdated infrastructure systems in medical facilities.
• $255 million for maintenance and modernization of facility infrastructure to support future electronic health record system updates.
• $13 million for major building upgrades like elevators, electrical systems and boiler plants.

These investments are just one of many ways the Trump Administration is making VA work better for Veterans. For example, VA has:

• Enrolled more than 125,000 new Veterans in VA healthcare in 2026.
• Opened 35 new VA health care facilities since Jan. 20, 2025, expanding healthcare access for Veterans around the country. 
• Reduced the backlog of Veterans waiting for VA benefits by 70% since Jan. 20, 2025, after it increased 24% during the Biden Administration. 
• Completed 82,083,918 direct care appointments in FY 2025, up 4.1% from FY 2024. 
• Offered Veterans more than 2.5 million appointments outside of normal operating hours, giving Veterans more timely and convenient options for care. 
• Permanently housed 51,936 homeless Veterans across the country in FY 2025, the highest total in seven years.