250,000 VA Patients Are at Risk of Receiving Wrong Medication Due to Electronic Health Records Issue

About 250,000 veterans may be at risk of being prescribed medicine they are allergic to or that would interact poorly with their existing medications because of issues with the Department of Veterans Affairs' new electronic health records system, a government watchdog told lawmakers at a hearing Thursday.

A VA official testifying at the same hearing stressed that the department has not found any instances of patients being harmed by drug interactions specifically caused by the data issues.

But at least one veteran wasn't given critical medication they were prescribed because their records were incorrect, and the VA has not adequately notified patients their prescription records may be wrong, the watchdog said.