New VA program pledges to bring Alaska veterans more access to care. US lawmakers subpoenaed its contractor. – Alaska's News Source

New VA program pledges to bring Alaska veterans more access to care. US lawmakers subpoenaed its contractor.  Alaska’s News Source

Quicker access, reduced wait times, more benefits. That’s the promise Washington D.C. is pledging to Alaska’s veterans through a program launching in just over a month, but it comes amid new congressional scrutiny over the contractor. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Quicker access, reduced wait times, more benefits. That’s the promise Washington D.C. is pledging to Alaska’s veterans through a program launching in just over a month, but it comes amid new congressional scrutiny over the contractor. “We are investing in our veteran population by putting in this expensive new tool, which we think will improve care now and, in the future, tremendously,” the Deputy Secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department Paul Lawrence told reporters in Anchorage Thursday.

“By and large, [veterans] should see no difference.” The new system, the Electronic Health Record system, aims to modernize veteran care across the country. Alaska isn’t the first state to begin the rollout, and until all states have the system integrated, care providers may still need to manually reach out to other providers to learn about their patients. “Right now, what happens is our doctors call each other when we talk and it’s a very manual process and we try to figure out the best way to [provide care],” Lawrence said. “It will be radically different [with the new program].” Lawrence expects the