Building the Foundation for Modern Veteran Care

At SteerBridge, our Construction and Facility Management practice supports the physical and operational foundation behind VA modernization. From facility readiness and infrastructure upgrades to operational coordination and Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM)-related support, our teams help prepare the environments where modern systems must perform and where Veterans experience the results.

Our perspective is shaped by scale, but grounded in the field.

SteerBridge brings VA healthcare and infrastructure experience across 17 of VA’s 18 Veterans Integrated Service Networks, with work supporting active medical campuses in regions across the country. Our teams and partner firms have supported technically complex healthcare infrastructure efforts involving central plants, heating and cooling systems, emergency power, domestic water and medical gas, site utilities, signage, communications, and low-voltage network upgrades. We also bring EHRM-related infrastructure experience at VA Medical Centers including Northampton, Canandaigua, Lebanon, Erie, Salem, Danville, Bay Pines, Louisville, Mountain Home, Jackson, Tuscaloosa, Dublin, Phoenix, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Fargo, Seattle, and locations throughout California. 

That reach gives SteerBridge more than geographic coverage. It gives us enterprise perspective grounded in local reality.

When teams are on the ground across roughly 30 VA hospital environments, patterns become clear. We see where facility readiness creates momentum. We see where infrastructure, clinical operations, and digital systems need tighter alignment. We see how modernization requirements show up differently from one campus to the next, even when the enterprise mission is the same.

And we see the central truth behind EHR modernization: the system can only perform as well as the environment that supports it.

EHR Modernization Is Moving Forward. Facility Readiness Has to Move With It.    

The VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization effort is entering a renewed phase of activity. In April 2026, VA reported that Michigan sites had gone live with the Federal EHR, and VA’s deployment schedule now points to broader accelerated deployment beginning in 2026 across VA medical centers and associated clinics. 

That progress matters. A modern EHR can improve continuity of care, strengthen coordination, and support a more connected Veteran experience. But deployment is not just a technical event. It is an operational one.

Facilities must be ready. Networks must be reliable. Clinical spaces must support the workflows that new systems require. Staff must be able to move through care environments efficiently. Critical infrastructure must support uptime, safety, and adaptability.

Without that foundation, even the most advanced technology cannot reach its full potential.

Under the leadership of Raul Lianez, President of Construction and Facility Management, SteerBridge is focused on strengthening the connection between infrastructure, operations, and mission outcomes. Raul’s leadership reflects a core SteerBridge belief: construction and facility management are not separate from modernization. They are enablers of it.

Enterprise Perspective, Local Execution

Modernization strategies may be planned at the enterprise level, but they succeed or fail at the facility level.

Every VA medical center has its own constraints, clinical demands, infrastructure history, and operational rhythm. A solution that works in one environment may need to be adapted in another. That is why on-the-ground presence matters.

SteerBridge’s growing footprint across VA hospitals gives us a practical view into what modernization really requires. We are not looking at readiness from a distance. We are seeing the mission in motion across hospitals, campuses, systems, and care environments where infrastructure decisions directly affect clinical performance.

That perspective helps us identify common readiness patterns across a national system while still respecting the local realities of each facility. It also helps VA partners and modernization stakeholders move from broad ambition to executable progress.

Across our VA work, the same themes emerge:

→  Infrastructure enables care delivery.

→  Facility readiness reduces operational risk.

→  EHRM requires alignment beyond digital systems.

→  Strong partnerships help make modernization achievable.

Those themes are visible in the field.

Dublin VA Medical Center    

At the Dublin VA Medical Center, Sarah Slavik, Construction Manager and Construction Administrator, supports facility readiness and operational coordination. Her work focuses on how spaces are used, how teams move through them, and how infrastructure supports daily workflows. That connection matters because when facilities are aligned with clinical operations, clinicians can focus on what matters most: delivering care.

Chicago VA Medical Center    

At the Chicago VA Medical Center, Tristan Dacre, Construction Manager and Senior Architect/Engineer, supports infrastructure alignment from a design and engineering perspective. Her work helps ensure that systems, spaces, and operations can adapt to changing requirements while remaining consistent and reliable. That kind of adaptability is essential in healthcare environments that must evolve without disrupting care. 

Dublin and Chicago are individual examples, but they point to a broader SteerBridge advantage: we are building insight across a distributed VA footprint. Each facility teaches something. Each project adds context. Each location strengthens our understanding of what it takes to support modernization at scale.

What We Learn by Being in the Hospitals    

Being on the ground across VA hospitals changes the way a partner sees modernization.

From the outside, EHRM can look like a technology deployment. From inside the hospital environment, it looks like a coordination challenge across people, systems, spaces, utilities, communications, workflows, construction schedules, safety requirements, and patient care demands.

That distinction matters.

Hospital modernization is not linear. It happens while care continues. Construction must be phased. Infection control must be planned. Critical systems must remain operational. Clinical teams need spaces that support their work, not just infrastructure that meets a technical requirement. Digital modernization must be connected to the physical realities of care delivery.

SteerBridge’s healthcare infrastructure experience includes work in medically unique environments such as imaging, surgical and interventional suites, intensive care and inpatient units, sterile processing, and laboratories, where coordination across architecture, structure, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems is critical. 

That experience helps us see modernization as an integrated mission.

It is not only EHRM.

It is EHRM plus CFM.

It is facility readiness plus clinical workflow.

It is infrastructure plus data.

It is local execution plus enterprise alignment.

And ultimately, it is all in service of better Veteran care.

A Stronger Foundation for What Comes Next 

For VA leaders and modernization stakeholders, the next phase of EHRM will require partners who understand both the system-level ambition and the facility-level reality.

That is where SteerBridge is positioned to bring distinctive value.

Our national VA footprint gives us visibility across regions, hospitals, and modernization environments. Our field teams give us practical insight into how readiness is built.

Our leaders bring mission experience, VA understanding, and a commitment to outcomes that extend beyond any single project.

Charles Tapp II, Managing Director of Veterans Affairs at SteerBridge, has emphasized that VA modernization must remain centered on the Veteran experience and that the strongest partners understand where VA is today, where it needs to go, and how to help make progress achievable. That perspective aligns directly with the role of Construction and Facility Management: helping VA move from modernization strategy to operational readiness.

Modern Veteran care depends on modern systems. But those systems depend on modern foundations.

At SteerBridge, we are proud to support that foundation across VA hospitals and healthcare environments nationwide.

Because modern infrastructure supports modern care.

And when the foundation is strong, modernization can move from ambition to impact, hospital by hospital, system by system, Veteran by Veteran.

About SteerBridge

At SteerBridge, our vision is to be the trusted partner in delivering transformative solutions that empower our clients to navigate complex challenges and seize opportunities for growth. Rooted in our core values of integrity, innovation, and engaged leadership, we strive to elevate the standards of service within the government contracting community.