VA deploys Abridge's AI scribing tool amid EHR modernization

Amid its beleaguered EHR modernization project, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is jumping on the AI scribing train.

The agency has deployed Abridge's AI scribe tool through an enterprise contract. The tool is operating within the VA's new Oracle EHR as well as its legacy VistA/CPRS EHR system. It is available to clinicians across more than 75 VA medical centers, in its primary care settings and 12 specialties. The tool is also available within the VA's virtual care network.

The tool not only features ambient AI to record, transcribe and create draft clinical documentation, but also clinical decision support capabilities to support care across the patient encounter. For instance, the platform can provide pre-visit notes with relevant data to help clinicians prepare for a visit, discussion topics to guide the conversation during the visit and post-visit follow-up and order recommendations.

The company also has content partnerships with prominent medical journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine and the JAMA network, to enable access to the latest clinical evidence within visit workflows.

According to Abridge, these capabilities will support seamless care coordination across the VA enterprise.

"It is an honor to support the clinicians who care for our nation's Veterans," said Shiv Rao, M.D., co-founder and CEO of Abridge, in the press release. "We've worked to earn trust by meeting them where they are and preserving clinical context across providers, specialties, care settings, and the EHR migration."

The deployment comes amid the VA's ongoing EHR modernization project. The agency recently deployed the new Oracle EHR at three VA hospitals in Indiana, bringing the total number of medical centers with the new EHR to 17.

But this is a small dent in the project that aims to replace EHRs at 170 VA medical centers. Since Oracle, then known as Cerner, won the EHR contract in 2018, the project has experienced significant delays and performance challenges. The VA paused the deployments altogether in 2023 to renegotiate its contract with Oracle. At the end of 2024, the agency announced it would resume deployments and said it planned to complete the EHR upgrade by 2031.

Despite the halting progress of its EHR modernization effort, it appears the VA does not want to be left behind as the age of AI rolls on. An American Medical Association survey released in March showed that 72% of U.S. physicians were using AI in 2026. Most (39%) were using AI to summarize medical research and standards of care, while 30% were using it to create discharge instructions, care plans or progress notes and 28% to document billing codes, medical charts or visit notes.

A majority of physicians (73%) believe that AI can help reduce administrative workload through automation, the survey revealed.

Anuja Vaidya has covered the healthcare industry since 2012. She currently covers healthcare IT and innovation, including artificial intelligence, digital healthcare, EHRs and interoperability.