Improving Veterans’ Community Care

U.S. Sen. John Boozman (R-AR)

Sen. John Boozman: Our nation’s veterans were promised access to healthcare for their service and sacrifice. Today the Senate took action to uphold that pledge, by passing S.2372, the John S. McCain III, Daniel K. Akaka and Samuel R. Johnson VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks Act, or the VA MISSION Act for short. This legislation strengthens the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare services and streamlines its community care programs.

I was proud to support this legislation that consolidates and improves VA community care programs so veterans will have access to healthcare and services in their own communities. Under this legislation, a veteran and his or her doctor will decide where that veteran will receive care—taking into consideration the veteran’s healthcare needs and the availability and quality of both VA and community care. The VA MISSION Act also improves the VA’s ability to hire high-quality healthcare professionals, expands VA caregiver benefits to veterans of all generations and creates a process to evaluate and reform VA facilities so they can best serve veterans. It also includes funding for the Choice Program so veterans will have access to care while we transition to an easier-to-use community care program.

The VA MISSION Act builds on the ideas proposed in a bill I supported in the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee last year that aimed to improve community healthcare for our veterans. This is a something we’ve sought to accomplish for several years.

In 2014, Congress created the Veterans Choice Program in response to a crisis of long wait times at VA hospitals. It addressed many shortcomings within the VA system, but we knew this was just the first of many steps needed to fix systemic problems that had been plaguing the VA and failing our veterans.I’ve worked with my colleagues and veterans to improve on this foundation. Last year, I launched a listening tour to hear from Arkansas veterans about their experiences with the Choice Program so we can better meet their needs. These discussions helped inform my contributions to the VA MISSION Act.
VA MISSION Act Funds And Streamlines VA Choice, Extends Caregiver Assistance To Vets Of All Eras, And Plans To ‘Optimize And Modernize VA’s Medical Care Facilities’
THIRTY-EIGHT VETERANS & MILITARY SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS: “This historic veterans legislation would consolidate and reform VA’s community care programs; extend funding for the current Veterans Choice Program for one year; strengthen VA’s ability to recruit, hire and retain quality medical personnel; review, realign and modernize VA’s health care infrastructure; and extend eligibility to VA’s comprehensive caregiver assistance program to aging and disabled veterans injured before September 11, 2001.” (Veterans and Military Service Organizations, Letter to Sens. Isakson and Tester and Reps. Roe and Walz, 5/07/2018)

• “The legislation, dubbed the VA Mission Act, is the culmination of nearly a year of work on the contentious issue of VA community care. More than one-third of all VA-funded medical appointments last year took place in offices outside the Veterans Health Administration, but administration officials have pushed for more access to private-sector doctors to increase options for veterans facing long waits or travel for federal care. In 2014, lawmakers passed the VA Choice program with that same idea. The program handles around 30,000 outside medical appointments a day … The VA Mission Act includes $5.2 billion in bridge funding to keep that program running for another year, until it is consolidated with other department care programs. That consolidation is expected to simplify and expand the rules for accessing outside care, but still keeping VA officials involved in veterans’ over health care plans.” (“Sweeping Veterans Policy Bill Passed Overwhelmingly In The House,” Military Times, 5/17/2018)

In addition to the improvements to VA healthcare delivery, the VA MISSION Act will also provide better insight into how the VA spends money on veterans’ healthcare, enabling us to conduct better and more consistent oversight. As the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, this is a priority for me. We must ensure the VA is efficiently and effectively providing veterans’ healthcare whether that care takes place in a VA facility or elsewhere in the community.

This bill is a great example of what can be accomplished through bipartisan, bicameral compromise. Now that the Senate and House passed this legislation, it's headed to President Trump's desk to be signed into law, giving our veterans access to the quality care they deserve.
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John Boozman is U.S. Senator representing Arkansas and the American people especially veterans.

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