King: VA’s Electronic Records Are a “Debacle”

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME), in a hearing of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee (SVAC), spoke with Alyssa Hundrup, Director of Health Care at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), about the importance of streamlining information-sharing between the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and community care providers. During the exchange, Senator King pointed toward the difficulties associated with the current electronic medical records system used by the VA, calling it a "debacle," asking why proven private sector methods aren't being used, and raised the question of what role artificial intelligence (AI) could play in helping create a more cohesive information stream. Director Hundrup agreed with Senator King's analysis that AI has the potential to create a more efficient system that would benefit veterans' care.

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to emphasize what Sen. Sheehy just said. As I looked over my notes and questions, it comes back to decent electronic medical records. We talked about coordination with community care. Good electronic medical records. Coordination with veterans coming out of the defense department. Decent electronic medical records. And everything comes back to that. Overprescribing, or prescribing polypharmacy where there's conflicts and danger, that's where you get - that won't happen if you have decent medical records. So, every practitioner that sees a veteran sees the same information about what they're taking, what they've been prescribed, what their history is, all of that necessary background. The development of electronic medical records for the Department of Defense and the VA has been a national debacle. We are spending billions of dollars, it is still not working, it hasn't been tested, people don't like it. I never understood frankly while we did not use the same system that is already on the shelf for thousands of hospitals across the country. Why are we inventing a new system for these patients? Sorry about the speech, but Senator Sheehy provoked it because he's absolutely right," began Senator King.

Senator King continued," A personal story. Just recently I talked to an elderly friend. In our conversation I realized she was much sharper and more engaged and with it than had been the case a month or two before. I didn't really think too much about it until I later talked to her husband who said she had a fall, she had a broken knee, she went into the hospital, and her physicians looked at her prescription record and changed the prescriptions and she is a different person. Nothing else happened other than taking her off certain drugs, putting her on others, and adjusting the volume, if you will. So, this was totally obvious, and all it was was somebody seeing cohesively what the prescription record was, and I'm sure that's happening with thousands of veterans. One question I have is it seems to be a primary where AI could help. AI could tell you whether there are contradictions and problems. I think that is one area where everyone is talking about AI and all the problems. But this is something where AI could quickly and instantly analyze, and would have every drug in the world, and you put in what would happen if these persons are taking these three drugs and we do this, we get an instant answer. You are nodding, nodding doesn't show up in the record. You have to say 'yes, senator, that was a brilliant comment.'"

"Yes, senator. That is not a topic we have looked at in depth, but I do think you are absolutely right in terms of just even some of the record sharing. We understand from VA in terms of them stating their intent to implement our recommendations that they do anticipate using medical technologies like AI. So, I think just to loop back to the need for oversight and the need for more people, I do think there is promise that AI could alleviate some of that. We are very early and that is not something the GAO has looked at specifically, so I need to stop there but I think it has a lot of promise," responded Director Hundrup.

Representing one of the states with the highest rates of military families and veterans per capita, Senator King is a staunch advocate for America's servicemembers and veterans. A member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee (SVAC), he works to ensure American veterans receive their earned benefits and that the VA is properly implementing various programs such as the PACT Act, the State Veterans Homes Domiciliary Care Flexibility Act, and the John Scott Hannon Act. In addition, he helped pass the Veterans COLA Act, which increased benefits for 30,000 Maine veterans and their families. This fall, President Trump signed the bipartisan Improving Veteran Experience Act into law, legislation championed by Senator King.

Senator King has introduced bipartisan legislation alongside SVAC Chairman Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) to improve care coordination for veterans who rely on both VA health care and Medicare. In February, Senator King was honored by the Disabled American Veterans as its 2025 Legislator of the Year. Last year, he was recognized by the Wounded Warrior Project as the 2024 Legislator of the Year for his "outstanding legislative effort and achievement to improve the lives of the wounded, ill, and injured veterans."

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