Military and Veteran healthcare organizations are navigating a period of rapid transformation as they work to improve readiness, expand access to care, and deliver a better experience for patients and providers. From electronic health record modernization and data interoperability to artificial intelligence, virtual care, and cybersecurity, federal health leaders are focused on turning technology investments into measurable operational impact. Ahead of the DoW/VA & Government Health IT Summit, this Q&A explores the capabilities, challenges, and priorities shaping the future of military and Veteran healthcare over the next several years.
Government Technology Insider (GTI): Military and Veteran healthcare organizations are under increasing pressure to improve readiness while delivering a better patient experience. Where do you believe health IT investments are having the greatest operational impact today, and where are the biggest capability gaps still remaining?
DSI Group (DSI): Health IT investments across military and Veteran healthcare organizations are currently delivering their greatest operational impact through enterprise-wide Electronic Health Record modernization, such as the Department of Defense’s MHS GENESIS rollout and parallel VA modernization efforts, which are streamlining clinical workflows and improving continuity of care during the transition from service member to Veteran. These unified platforms are increasingly paired with advanced data analytics, early artificial intelligence applications, and scalable telehealth solutions to optimize supply chain management, predictive triage, and remote patient monitoring. However, significant capability gaps still remain, most notably in achieving seamless, real-time semantic interoperability between military treatment facilities, VA systems, and private community care networks. Clinicians continue to face data silos and complex user interfaces that contribute to administrative burden and cognitive fatigue, while a critical infrastructure gap persists in extending resilient, high-bandwidth health IT and decision-support tools to tactical edge environments for deployed combat medics.
GTI: Artificial intelligence has moved beyond experimentation into real-world deployments. Which AI use cases are demonstrating measurable value across the Defense Health Agency and VA, and what lessons have agencies learned about implementing AI responsibly?
DSI: Artificial intelligence has successfully transitioned from experimentation to tangible, real-world deployments across the Defense Health Agency and the VA, delivering measurable value in both clinical and operational domains, particularly where it reduces administrative burden, improves clinical decision support, and helps organizations manage capacity more effectively.
Across the DHA and the VA, some of the most promising use cases include ambient clinical documentation and summarization, patient triage and routing, medical imaging and diagnostic support, predictive analytics for identify patients at risk, and operational applications such as demand forecasting, scheduling, and resource optimization. These are valuable because they address tangible problems; giving clinicians more time with patients, helping staff manage increasingly complex workloads, and enabling earlier intervention. Generative AI is also showing potential in making large volumes of clinical and administrative information easier for providers and patients to navigate.
The biggest lesson, however, is that successful AI implementation is as much about governance and workflow as it is about the technology. Agencies have learned that AI needs to be introduced with clear accountability, strong data governance, cybersecurity and privacy protections, human oversight, and continuous monitoring for accuracy and bias. A model that performs well in a laboratory or pilot environment can behave very differently when exposed to real-world populations, workflows, and data.
Looking ahead, the focus will shift from proving that AI can work to demonstrating that it can scale safely, integrate into existing health IT environments, and consistently deliver measurable improvements in readiness, access, quality, cost, and patient and provider experience. That transition from promising pilots to trusted, enterprise-scale capabilities will be the real test of AI’s value in federal healthcare.
GTI: Healthcare organizations generate enormous volumes of clinical and operational data. What strategies are proving most effective for turning that data into actionable intelligence that supports clinicians, commanders, and healthcare leaders?
DSI: The most effective strategy is to move from simply collecting and reporting data to creating a trusted, connected data environment that delivers the right insight to the right person at the right time.
For clinicians, that means integrating clinical, operational, and patient-generated data and presenting it within existing workflows rather than requiring providers to search across multiple systems. Clinical decision support, predictive analytics, and AI can help identify patients at risk, surface relevant trends, and prioritize actions while reducing administrative and cognitive burden.
For commanders and healthcare leaders, the focus is different. They need an enterprise-level view of readiness, workforce capacity, access to care, utilization, supply chains, and emerging demand. The most effective analytics platforms turn disparate data sources into near-real-time operational intelligence and actionable dashboards, enabling leaders to identify problems earlier and allocate resources more effectively.
Several strategies are proving particularly important. First is data interoperability and standardization. If information cannot move reliably across systems, analytics will always be constrained. Second is strong data governance and quality management to ensure users can trust the information. Third is applying AI and advanced analytics to clearly defined, high-value use cases with measurable outcomes. Finally, analytics must be designed around the decisions clinicians, commanders, and executives actually need to make, not simply around the data that happens to be available.
Ultimately, the objective is not to give healthcare professionals more data; it is to reduce the noise and increase the signal. When clinicians receive actionable insights at the point of care, commanders have a clearer picture of readiness, and healthcare leaders understand where capacity and resources are needed most, data becomes a strategic asset that directly supports mission performance and patient outcomes
GTI: Interoperability has been a long-standing priority across military and Veteran healthcare. As systems continue to mature, what should success look like over the next several years, and what barriers still need to be overcome?
DSI: Success in interoperability should mean moving beyond simply exchanging data to creating a seamless healthcare ecosystem where information follows the patient and is available to the right person at the right time.
For military and Veteran healthcare, that means clinicians can access a complete, trusted patient record across military, VA, and civilian care settings, while leaders have timely visibility into readiness, capacity, and demand.
The biggest barriers are legacy systems, inconsistent data standards, data quality, cybersecurity, and organizational silos. Interoperability also needs to be built around workflows, not simply technology, so that data is standardized, contextualized, and actionable.
Success should be measured by tangible outcomes: fewer gaps in patient information, less duplication, faster transitions of care, improved readiness, and a better experience for patients and providers.
GTI: Digital health technologies, including remote monitoring, virtual care, and mobile health applications, continue to expand access to care. How are these capabilities changing the way care is delivered for service members, Veterans, and geographically dispersed populations?
DSI: Digital health technologies are transforming the delivery of healthcare services. It shifts the care from a model that depends on where the patient is located to one that is increasingly centered on when and how the care is needed.
For service members and Veterans, virtual care and remote monitoring can reduce travel, improve access to specialists, support ongoing management of chronic conditions, and provide care closer to home or duty location. Mobile health tools also give patients greater access to appointments, health information, and communication with their care teams.
For geographically dispersed populations, these technologies help extend the reach of limited clinical resources and allow providers to monitor patients between visits rather than relying solely on periodic, in-person encounters.
The next opportunity is connecting these capabilities more effectively with the broader healthcare system. When virtual visits, remote monitoring, and mobile applications are integrated with clinical records and care workflows, they can provide more continuous, proactive, and personalized care while improving access and reducing the burden on both patients and providers.
GTI: As healthcare systems become increasingly interconnected and AI-enabled, securing sensitive medical data becomes even more critical. How should agencies balance innovation with cybersecurity, privacy, and trust while maintaining mission readiness?
DSI: The key is to make security and privacy part of innovation from the beginning, rather than treating them as barriers added after a technology is deployed. As agencies adopt AI and interconnected systems, they need strong data governance, zero-trust security, continuous monitoring, and clear controls around how data is accessed and used. AI solutions also require transparency, validation, and human oversight so clinicians and leaders can understand and trust the outputs.
At the same time, cybersecurity cannot create so much friction that it prevents people from getting the information they need to deliver care or maintain readiness. The goal should be secure access to the right information at the right time, with appropriate safeguards based on the sensitivity and mission value of the data.
Maintaining trust also requires clear accountability, regular testing, and ongoing evaluation as technologies and threats evolve. When cybersecurity, privacy, and responsible AI practices are built into the architecture from day one, agencies can adopt new capabilities faster while protecting patients, providers, and the mission.
GTI: Looking ahead, what emerging technologies, policy changes, or acquisition priorities do you believe will have the greatest influence on military and Veteran healthcare over the next three to five years?
DSI: Over the next three to five years, the trajectory of military and Veteran healthcare will be profoundly shaped by the convergence of advanced interoperable data ecosystems, immersive clinical tools, virtual and remote care, AI-enabled decision support, and robust cybersecurity.
AI will increasingly support clinical workflows, diagnostics, administrative automation, and operational planning. Concurrently, treating health data as a core warfighting function will compel the Department of War and the VA to prioritize cloud-native architectures that eliminate long-standing data silos and ensure seamless interoperability between military treatment facilities, VA hospitals, and private community care networks.
On the policy and acquisition front, agencies are shifting away from rigid, multi-year procurement cycles toward accelerated, modular pathways that allow them to rapidly ingest commercial innovations, deploy continuous software updates, and scale artificial intelligence assistants without getting bogged down by legacy bureaucracy. Ultimately, these intersecting priorities aim to build a resilient, unified health enterprise capable of protecting service member readiness globally while delivering a friction-free, lifelong continuum of care for Veterans.