WASHINGTON—Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (MilCon-VA) Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) welcomed an update on the successful recent deployment of the Electronic Health Record Management (EHRM) system and urged Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Doug Collins to continue supporting a Boozman-authored suicide prevention initiative at a hearing examining the department’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request.

Boozman thanked Sec. Collins for sharing the positive feedback on the EHRM launch at four hospitals in Michigan earlier this month.

“I am really pleased with the results that we’re getting in Michigan. It’s a great start, and especially to hear from our colleague in Michigan to back that up. Many administrations – this is not a Democrat or Republican thing – [have wrestled with this] over the past couple of decades. [This successful rollout] will make us a lot more efficient,” Boozman said. 

“We have put the Electronic Health Record Modernization effort back on track, starting with our successful deployments in Michigan a few weeks ago. We are no longer accepting indefinite delays in this critical initiative,” Collins said in his opening statement. “A modern record system means fewer repeated tests, improved availability of health data, and smoother coordination across providers—reducing frustration and improving continuity of care at every point of contact.”

Congress has appropriated over $16 billion to deliver this necessary capability to the VA to support record management with non-VA providers. The VA will next deploy this system to four Ohio hospitals in June. Its FY27 budget request will support 26 new deployments in 2027 and sustain 45 live sites.

Boozman also asked Collins to share why extending the Fox Grant Program, a critical component veteran suicide prevention, was a priority and discuss the impact it has for veterans struggling with their mental health.

“According to the VA’s December 2025 report, 22 percent of the veterans supported by this grant were new to VA services, and 80 percent of veterans within the program have shown a decreased risk of suicide,” Boozman said. “This is another thing that we’ve worked so hard for so many years to get a handle on, to reverse some of the negative trends that we’ve seen.”

“The death by suicide issue, with these Fox Grants, really go after [and is] targeted toward those unreached. Remember, 60 percent of veterans who have death by suicide are not in the VA system. Since January, we’ve added over 125,000 new veterans who were not in the system just in this year,” Collins said.

The Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program was signed into law as a provision of the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act. The senator, also a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, continues to push for its renewal and expansion.