Orion Donovan Smith
@orionds.bsky.social
Baltimore resident and DC reporter covering the other Washington for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane. Member of the Standing Committee of Correspondents, Regional Reporters Association board member, Report for America alum, amateur bike mechanic.
The story is jointly published by our two outlets, and you can read a non-paywalled version here:
spokesman.com/stories/2025...
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spokesman.com/stories/2025...
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VA staff flag dangerous errors ahead of new health records expansion
On the eve of a major expansion, a multibillion-dollar project to upgrade the computer systems of all Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals is beset with problems, according to some medical staff w...
spokesman.com
December 3, 2025 at 3:43 PM
The story is jointly published by our two outlets, and you can read a non-paywalled version here:
spokesman.com/stories/2025...
8/end
spokesman.com/stories/2025...
8/end
What began as a local story for us at The Spokesman-Review has become a national story, so we partnered with The Washington Post (@washingtonpost.com) to take a broader look at the project, which is estimated to cost taxpayers at least $33 billion.
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December 3, 2025 at 3:43 PM
What began as a local story for us at The Spokesman-Review has become a national story, so we partnered with The Washington Post (@washingtonpost.com) to take a broader look at the project, which is estimated to cost taxpayers at least $33 billion.
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Current and former VA employees told us that deploying the EHR at a big, complex hospital could lead to problems that haven't emerged at the relatively small facilities where it's used today. They also raised concerns about the pace of the 2026 rollout.
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December 3, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Current and former VA employees told us that deploying the EHR at a big, complex hospital could lead to problems that haven't emerged at the relatively small facilities where it's used today. They also raised concerns about the pace of the 2026 rollout.
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The Biden administration halted the system's rollout in 2022 after patient harm first came to light. Now, the Trump administration is accelerating that rollout, with planned launches in mid-2026 at major hospitals in Michigan, followed by others in Ohio, Indiana, Alaska & KY.
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December 3, 2025 at 3:43 PM
The Biden administration halted the system's rollout in 2022 after patient harm first came to light. Now, the Trump administration is accelerating that rollout, with planned launches in mid-2026 at major hospitals in Michigan, followed by others in Ohio, Indiana, Alaska & KY.
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That error, which the VA acknowledged in a letter to Sands' widow, illustrates how EHR-related patient harm happens and why it's such a tough problem to solve. It involves humans interacting with a computer system, and it's rarely simple to ascribe blame to one or the other.
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December 3, 2025 at 3:43 PM
That error, which the VA acknowledged in a letter to Sands' widow, illustrates how EHR-related patient harm happens and why it's such a tough problem to solve. It involves humans interacting with a computer system, and it's rarely simple to ascribe blame to one or the other.
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Raymond "Chuck" Sands, a USMC veteran who served in Vietnam and had lung cancer, died in Ohio in 2022 after an EHR error led to a 36-hour delay getting antibiotics. When his wife called the VA to check the status of a prescription, the EHR showed info for the wrong patient.
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December 3, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Raymond "Chuck" Sands, a USMC veteran who served in Vietnam and had lung cancer, died in Ohio in 2022 after an EHR error led to a 36-hour delay getting antibiotics. When his wife called the VA to check the status of a prescription, the EHR showed info for the wrong patient.
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The system played a role in 4,601 cases of patient harm as of Aug. 1, per internal VA data we obtained through FOIA. While VA safety experts classified most of those cases as "minor," they include the deaths of six veterans. We detail one of those cases for the first time.
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December 3, 2025 at 3:43 PM
The system played a role in 4,601 cases of patient harm as of Aug. 1, per internal VA data we obtained through FOIA. While VA safety experts classified most of those cases as "minor," they include the deaths of six veterans. We detail one of those cases for the first time.
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