The Department of Veterans Affairs has signed a letter of intent with telehealth company Amwell to overhaul how it delivers virtual care to veterans. Amwell's platform will enable veterans to connect with VA providers or outside specialists — both from home and within VA clinics — and will also support care coordination across VA hospitals. A formal contract is pending federal review, including sign-off from the VA's chief information officer.

This move is part of the VA's larger, long-struggling digital health modernization initiative. The agency's EHR overhaul — originally launched in 2018 with Cerner (later acquired by Oracle) — has been plagued by outages, delays, and skyrocketing costs, with only 6 of 170 VA medical centers having implemented the new system by 2020. Lawmakers recently voted to subpoena two Oracle executives as the agency raised Oracle's contract ceiling to $27 billion.

Amwell isn't new to federal health IT — it previously partnered with the Department of Defense in a deal worth up to $180 million to digitize care at the Military Health System, a contract extended in August 2025.

By the Numbers:

• 2.9 million veterans used VA telehealth in fiscal year 2025 — a 10% increase year-over-year
• Only 6 out of 170 VA medical centers had implemented the new EHR by 2020
• Oracle's VA contract ceiling raised to $27 billion
• DoD's Amwell deal was worth up to $180 million

Why it matters: With millions of veterans relying on virtual care, modernizing the VA's telehealth infrastructure is critical. But given the agency's track record of costly delays, all eyes will be on whether this partnership can deliver results where previous efforts have stumbled.