Veterans deserve the highest-quality health care our nation can offer, but fulfilling this promise often means overcoming major challenges. About 9 million veterans receive care through the VA, with a third living in rural areas far from VA facilities. Meeting their needs requires innovative solutions that combine expertise, technology, and strategic partnerships.

Why VA’s holistic model outpaces traditional care

The VA stands apart with its integrated, long-term approach to care. Unlike the fragmented experiences many Americans face—bouncing among providers who seldom communicate—veterans benefit from a health care system that tracks their needs from military separation through end-of-life.

As executive advisor to four VA secretaries under two administrations, I saw firsthand how veterans benefit from care that is data-driven, prevention-oriented, and focused on outcomes. Most Americans would find this level of integration enviable. In the private sector, patients often juggle multiple specialists—general practitioners, surgeons, gynecologists, cardiologists—who rarely share records or coordinate treatments.

This integration has enabled the VA to develop unparalleled expertise in conditions that disproportionately affect veterans, such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), combat-related mental health issues, and oncology treatments. VA centers of excellence are so respected that families of non-veterans sometimes reach out, seeking access to the system’s superior care. I remember parents of teenagers who had suffered TBIs in car accidents asking if the VA could help—because VA expertise clearly surpassed what was available in many private settings.

When expanded access meets fragmented systems

The 2018 MISSION Act was a watershed moment—expanding veterans’ access to community care if they faced long wait times or lived too far from VA facilities. But with this opportunity came a challenge: Navigating a fragmented health care system where many providers lacked the experience to address military-specific conditions.

To support this shift, the VA created the Community Care Network (CCN), connecting eligible veterans with community providers under specific criteria. The goal: Greater choice and improved access to timely, high-quality care closer to home.

However, private-sector providers were suddenly seeing patients with unique physical traumas and mental health needs they were not trained to manage. Veterans entering these systems expect their care teams to understand military culture and service-related conditions. Too often, that expectation goes unmet.

The administrative maze of claims processing

Behind the scenes, another challenge looms: Claims processing. VA claims are fundamentally different from standard insurance, requiring specialized expertise.

The VA’s legacy EMR system, VistA, predates most commercial platforms and holds decades of invaluable longitudinal data. Processing claims from this system with community providers involves navigating complex coding, reimbursement rules, and documentation standards.

To address these challenges, the VA is transitioning to the Oracle Cerner-based Federal Electronic Health Record (EHR), enhancing interoperability across the VA, Department of Defense (DoD), and CCN providers. By standardizing records, this system will support more coordinated, data-driven care—no matter where a veteran is treated.

Yet even as platforms like Cerner and Epic improve clinical data sharing, administrative complexity persists. Mismatched data standards, fragmented provider networks, and inconsistent documentation continue to cause delays and under-reimbursement. Hospitals collect only about 70 percent of what they are owed on VA claims, writing off the rest and threatening long-term access to care for veterans.

Human + machine: the future of claims and care

Technology alone will not solve these issues. The path forward lies in combining smart systems with deep domain expertise. Artificial intelligence can help, but only when it understands context.

This is the promise of Context-Augmented Generation (CAG), an emerging concept where AI tools are trained on specialized data sets to interpret claims and care documentation more accurately. In the VA context, combining this technology with expert human oversight ensures providers are fairly reimbursed and veterans get the care they deserve.

Turning shared missions into movements

Solving veteran health care challenges often requires unconventional coalitions. In building public-private partnerships, I’ve found success starts with one essential question: Who else cares about this?

When two organizations share a top strategic priority, collaboration flourishes. But when there is misalignment in priorities, even the best ideas falter. For government partnerships especially, understanding regulatory and institutional constraints is crucial. Roles and responsibilities are often codified by Congress, limiting agility. Yet when framed around the shared mission of improving veteran care, many are eager to act.

A powerful example emerged during the COVID-19 crisis. The VA faced a dire PPE shortage. I reached out to inventor Dean Kamen, who used his global supply chain to source critical equipment. Despite skepticism that one entrepreneur could help a federal agency, our collaboration delivered nearly 25 planeloads of masks, gowns, and gloves to VA facilities nationwide.

Expanding access through technology and collaboration

Technology will continue to transform veteran care, especially for rural populations. The VA was a pioneer in telehealth well before the pandemic. As virtual diagnostics improve, veterans in remote areas will gain access to more specialties without needing to travel long distances.

Better data collection and analytics will also help care teams act smarter, faster, and more efficiently—preventing burnout while improving outcomes.

Health care organizations serving veterans must embrace this evolving landscape. Those that integrate smart technology with specialized human expertise—and build mission-aligned partnerships—will not only survive, but lead.

So ask yourself: Who else cares about this? Find them. Partner with them. Together, we can transform strategic intent into broad, sustainable impact. That is how we truly honor those who served.

Deborah Lafer Scher is a health care consultant.