October 14, 2025
Redesigning the VA’s EHR with Empathy & Accountability
Introduction to the VA’s EHR Misstep
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has struggled for many decades to modernize its electronic health record (EHR) system, resulting in significant time and financial costs. First, the legacy system was launched, which was costly to maintain and difficult to use due to its complexity. This led to modernization efforts, which also faced setbacks due to a lack of planning, high costs, and unmet requirements.
Even the VA’s most recent EHR system has been facing functionality problems, scheduling issues, and harmful glitches. For instance, there have been at least 150 cases of veterans being harmed due to system errors, including incidents of catastrophic harm. Furthermore, orders for specialty care and lab work have been reported lost, causing unnecessary and costly rework, as well as delayed patient care. These failures occur when technology is implemented without thorough testing, user involvement, or strong oversight. Unfortunately, the consequences result in safety and trust concerns for veterans, as well as impacted lives due to delayed care.
The Human Cost of Poor Design
The VA’s EHR failures are due to a lack of alignment between system design and real-world clinical workflows. For instance, many clinicians reported that the interface was not intuitive, the scheduling system was not reliable, and the system often slowed productivity rather than supporting it. These usability issues created more confusion, delayed treatment, and sometimes even resulted in serious medical errors.
This is why it’s crucial that human-centered design (HCD) is not considered optional in healthcare, or a last-minute add-on. HCD must be at the core of every solution by including stakeholders and end users in the design and testing process. Otherwise, systems will fail to meet operational needs. HITS, which pushes for HCD at the forefront of every solution, would take a drastically different approach, starting with implementing user-centered design and experience to ensure the system reflected how VA clinicians actually deliver care. Furthermore, by conducting collaborative prototyping and usability testing, HITS would have identified design gaps early in the process, improving adoption and reducing the risk of harm to patients. HITS believes technology should empower, not overwhelm, those who serve veterans. By uncovering unmet needs before implementation, HITS helps partners deliver solutions that truly support clinicians and safeguard patients.
Ensuring Reliability, Testing, and Governance
Technical instability and lack of oversight played major roles in the VA’s EHR problems. Furthermore, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found major issues such as medication orders being incorrect and slow prescription processing. These things ultimately increase patient safety risk since they may give prescriptions that are actually harmful for them, or they may not be given the medication they need promptly, which could worsen health outcomes. These issues were worsened by inadequate post-launch testing as well as weak project management.
This is where HITS’s system reliability and testing, as well as our quality assurance capabilities, come into play. HITS ensures that every solution is tested under real-world conditions, validated for performance, and is actually equipped to handle change. HITS pushes for continuous improvement and agile iteration, which detects and fixes issues before they impact patients. Furthermore, our change management and planning framework supports smooth, successful adoption, which helps clinicians transition effectively while facing minimal workflow disruptions. By promoting transparency, accountability, and iterative validation, HITS prevents unnecessary rework and delays that federal EHR systems often face.
Importance of Implementing a People-First Approach
The VA’s repeated EHR missteps reveal the consequences of not pushing for HCD at the start of design, as well as the consequences of designing without empathy, accountability, or user input. Unfortunately, technology designed without HCD may become harmful rather than helpful. Veterans, clinicians, and administrators deserve technology that works the first time and continuously evolves based on their needs. This is why HITS’s people-first approach transforms health IT into delivering solutions that are safe, adaptable, and sustainable. By uncovering unmet requirements, streamlining delivery, and providing real-time validations, HITS helps its partners avoid unnecessary rework and focus on improving care outcomes. Technology reaches its full potential when guided by empathy, accountability, and emotional intelligence, which are the core of HITS’s health IT transformation.
HITS
HITS provides healthcare management services and partners with stakeholders to design health informatics tools that promote safe, secure, and reliable care experiences by ensuring that technology implements empathy, accountability, transparency, and human-centered design from the start. By infusing empathy and emotional intelligence into every solution, we ensure technology enhances rather than replaces or hinders human connection. By combining government expertise with healthcare management, we deliver collaborative, high-quality solutions across military, federal, and commercial sectors. We take pride in our services and settle for nothing other than 100% quality solutions for our clients. Having the right team assist with data sharing is crucial to encouraging collaborative and secure care. If you’re looking for the right team that delivers technology with heart, HITS is it! You can reach out to us directly at info@healthitsol.com. Check out this link if you’re interested in having a 15-minute consultation with us: https://bit.ly/3RLsRXR.