VA Overhaul Clears House

Veterans would continue to see their access to health care and benefits related to for their service-related conditions improve, under a Senate measure that also cleared the House May 16. Under the bipartisan bill, known colloquially as the VA Mission Act, veterans would:
* Be ensured that they would have “timely access to the care they have earned.”
* Benefit from a reduced bureaucracy in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ community care process. The disparate VA programs that administer community care would be combined into one entity. Also, the process would undergo a non-partisan review, with the intent of expanding VA’s Post-9/11 caregiver program to all veterans.
* The Choice Program, which allows veterans to seek care from community providers when provision of such services through VA facilities is impracticable, would continue. The popular program otherwise would have run out of funding on May 31.
The Senate and House versions of the bill, S. 2372 and H.R. 5674, are virtually identical. Sens. Johnny Isakson, R.-Ga., and Jon Tester, D. Mont., the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, introduced S. 2372. Rep. Phil Roe, M.D., R-Tenn., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, introduced the House bill.
The measure “keeps our promise to give veterans more choice in their health care while building our strong investment in VA’s internal capacity,” Roe said. “[It] will ensure VA has the resources needed to serve our nation’s heroes for years to come.”
Eligibility for community services under the Choice program would hinge upon the distance a veteran would have to travel to a VA facility, the nature and frequency of the care he or she would need, availability of appointments, medical condition, and other related criteria.
Additionally, VA would have to establish quality standards that address timely, effective, safe and efficient care.