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CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR NEWLY ELECTED OFFICERS!

Todd Lumbra, Chairman Home Committee

The American Legion submitted a Statement for the Record (SFR) for a House
Veterans Affairs’ Committee Subcommittee on Health Oversight hearing on
evaluating VA community care. In the SFR, submitted by American Legion Health
Policy Analyst Matthew Cardenas, the Legion reaffirms its support for the
MISSION Act and that the VA should remain the center of veteran health care
with a focus on improvement.

The American Legion conducts visits to VA facilities each year as part of its
System Worth Saving (SWS) program. During these visits, national staff and
leadership talk with veterans and VA staff members to ensure veterans are
receiving the best care possible.

“Access standards were identified as an area for improvement. Who qualifies and
how can sometimes seem unclear, and veterans report facing unexpected barriers
To atually getting referrals. This goes against the spirit of the MISSION Act, which
is to provide veterans with closer and timelier access to care. Congress and the
VA should look closely at codifying access standards but also ensuring that veterans
aren’t going out of VA care just to receive care that is further away, a longer wait,
or both, as we heard about anecdotally multiple times on our SWS visits.

“With the VA now spending more than 39% of its health care budget on community
provider reimbursements and Congressional efforts to codify community care access
standards, setting clear guidelines for contract oversight will be a monumental issue
as the VA negotiates a new community care contract,” the SFR states. “However,
even with clear guidelines for oversight, the VA will continue sending a larger
number of veterans into the community if Congress does not consider and act upon a
comprehensive plan for infrastructure reform. Congress’ disregard for the Asset &
Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission, housed within the MISSION Act and
designed to address VA’s long-standing infrastructure issues, is a large part of the
reason the VA is facing a growing community care budget. Important changes in
policy to improve infrastructure, reduce barriers to accessing care, streamline
appointment scheduling, support women veterans, and improve reimbursement
requirements are critical to providing veterans with the health care they have earned.”

“When veterans qualify for community care and elect to go that direction, that decision
should be between a veteran and their providers. While current access standards are
not codified, they are part of VA policy and need to be followed. The Secretary of
the VA has discussed making changes to access standards in the past to keep more
care in the VA. While no official changes to access standards have been made, there
are reports that the VA has been informally restricting access.”

Additionally, the SFR states that “infrastructure reform, ensuring adequate
transportation, and addressing provider recruitment and retention are all crucial to
providing veteran health care in an effective and timely manner, and The American
Legion urges Congress to address these issues while holding the VA accountable for
delays and denials of veterans who need health care in their community. We must, in
every effort to properly address balancing VA direct care with community care,
keep the individual veteran as our focus.”

Legion supports improvements to VA community care

FOR GOD AND COUNTRY!