VA health secretary quits less than a year into tenure
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ under secretary for health is resigning effective next week, according to an internal email sent Tuesday and confirmed by the VA on Wednesday.
John Bartrum has led the massive rollout of electronic health record modernization since his December 2025 confirmation, but did not explain why he is leaving only months into his tenure.
“We successfully relaunched the Electronic Health Record Modernization program, putting it back on a credible path after years of uncertainty,” Bartrum said in the email. “In the spirit of President George Washington upon his retirement from public life, I am persuaded that, with these initiatives now firmly on track, you will not disapprove my determination to retire from public service.”
The formerly assailed EHRM effort has been ramping up in recent months, with plans to have 19 sites updated by the end of this year. It’s the beginning of an “aggressive timeline” to complete deployment at all sites as early as 2031.
The Veterans Health Administration, which Bartrum led, was the subject of a recent VA Office of the Inspector General report, which found it deployed artificial intelligence tools without proper governance, creating “risks for patient safety” and limited ability to monitor errors.
In the email, Bartrum said he will be focusing on family and his health and will continue to “support this Administration’s mission from the private sector.”
He has been working with the VA since the beginning of the second Trump administration, first as a senior advisor to the secretary prior to his December confirmation as the under secretary for health and VHA head. Bartrum is a retired Air Force major general and founder of the governmental strategic advisory firm Brightstar Innovations Group.
Bartrum did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication. Quinn Slaven, VA press secretary, said in an email that the agency thanks Bartrum “for his leadership of VHA and the many VA accomplishments he presided over during his 17 months of service at the department. We wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
Slaven also said they will be announcing interim VHA leadership in the “coming days.”
Madison Alder contributed to this report.
