Fedweek

Another 251,000 VA employees could gain continuing education benefits. Image: Bruce VanLoon/Shutterstock.com

A bill now pending before the House (HR-3693) would make some 250,000 VA employees newly eligible for a continuing education benefit that meanwhile would be increased in value, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.

The bill would make health care professionals such as registered nurses, physician assistants, and psychologists eligible for the reimbursement for continuing professional education benefit now limited to physicians and dentists. About 31,000 now are eligible, about half of whom annually use the benefit.

Based on information from the VA, the CBO estimated that an additional 251,000 employees would become newly eligible under the bill and that it “expects similar take-up rates.”

The bill further would increase the allowance from $1,000 to $2,000 annually and allow the VA to index it for inflation moving forward. The CBO assumed that the VA would do so.

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