Electronic Health Records: VA Needs to Address Data Management Challenges for New System

The Department of Veterans Affairs relies on electronic health records for patient care, risk management for its patient population, and health research. VA started transferring records to a new system, which went live in October 2020.

We found problems with the quality of the transferred data and with how the new system was working for some users. For example:

• VA identified errors in allergy, medication, and immunization data, which may pose risks for patient safety
• VA started making reports from the new system available without consulting all users, so VA can’t be sure the reports meet their needs

Our recommendations address these issues.

What GAO Found

The Department of...