House subcommittee debates rural veterans' access to care

House Veterans Affairs Health Subcommittee members on Thursday discussed several bills to improve veterans' access to health care, particularly in rural areas, CQ HealthBeat reports.

According to CQ HealthBeat , a number of bills call for increased contracting between VA and local health care providers to improve veterans' access to care in rural areas that are far from VA facilities. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.) advocated legislation (HR 92) that would require VA hospitals and clinics to contract with private providers if veterans were unable to get appointments for primary care within 30 days. VA says nearly all of its facilities meet the 30-day standard for providing access about 90% of the time, but Brown-Waite said many veterans wait much longer than that. However, some veterans' lobbyists expressed concern that contracting with private providers would undermine the VA health care system.

Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas) called for the passage of a bill (HR 538) that would establish an inpatient VA facility to provide care to the more than 100,000 veterans living in southern Texas. He said veterans in that area must travel long distances for appointments. Michael Michaud (D-Maine), chair of the subcommittee, also proposed several initiatives that would establish mobile clinics to provide care in rural areas, create a special advisory committee to improve access to care for rural veterans and form "centers of excellence" to conduct research on improving rural health care access. Michaud said that the hearing was the first of many the subcommittee would hold to examine veterans' health care.

Dennis Cullinan, legislative director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said that while contracting with private providers "would greatly benefit veterans in areas with long waiting times, we must be mindful of it not eating into the health care budget for other locations." He added, "A few years ago, there were over 300,000 veterans throughout the country who were waiting six months or more for primary health care, but VA has made great strides to reduce this, and most initial appointments are being made" within the 30-day period (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat , 4/26).