VA leaders meet with members of Congress, seek budget flexibility to provide Veterans continued access to care

Over the past year, the Department of Veterans Affairs has hired more medical staff, extended office hours and boosted productivity in order to provide Veterans greater access to care.

Nationally, VA completed more than 56.2 million appointments between June 1, 2014, and May 31, 2015 — 2.6 million more appointments than were completed during the same time period in 2013-2014. VA also made more than 3 million authorizations for outside care.

Veterans are responding to these efforts to increase access by coming to VA for more care, and VA is committed to working with Congress to meet that increased demand.

This morning, the chairmen and ranking members of both the House and Senate committees on Veterans Affairs met with VA leadership to discuss the growing demand and increased access to care.

The meeting follows Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson’s letter earlier this week requesting that Congress act expeditiously to approve VA’s pending request for fiscal year 2015 budget flexibility. The request, formally transmitted on June 23rd, seeks the transfer of funds from the Choice Program to continue VA’s efforts to increase Veterans’ access to care and life-saving pharmaceuticals.

“It is essential that Congress pass legislation to provide the requested budget flexibility by the end of July 2015,” he wrote. “This is necessary to replenish critical operations funding that VA had to reallocate from other medical services programs to sustain Care in the Community, after those funds were depleted … if these program funds are not restored, VA will face shutting down hospital operations during August 2015.”

VA has requested from Congress the ability to amend the Choice Act to use up to $3 billion of Choice Program funds to meet Veterans Demand for Care in the Community, of which no more than $500 million could be used for Hepatitis C treatment.

Budget Impacts

• In February and March, and again in May of this year, VA formally requested limited budget flexibility to utilize existing resources, in a budget-neutral manner, to continue to provide Veterans needed care while plainly articulating the denial of access to care that would result if resources are not made available.
• VA continues to seek budget flexibility from Congress to utilize existing Choice Program funds to continue its efforts to increase Veterans’ access to care.
  • Without this flexibility, VA will have no option but to defer all remaining Care in the Community authorizations until October 1, 2015.
  • As stated above, it is essential that Congress include in this legislation the ability for VA to replenish critical operations funding that, in order to continue offering Care in the Community, were reallocated from other medical services programs. If these program funds are not restored, VA will face shutting down hospital operations during August 2015.
• The request for budget flexibility is consistent with the intent of Congress to accelerate access and the Department’s request to allow resources to flow to Veterans’ needs as they evolve. VA is dedicated to working with Congress on this urgent issue.

Expanding Access to Care                                                

• Nationally, VA completed nearly 56.2 million appointments between June 1, 2014, and May 31, 2015. This represents an increase of 2.6 million more completed appointments than during the same time period in 2013-2014.
• In April 2015, VA completed 97 percent of appointments within 30 days of the clinically indicated or Veteran’s preferred date; 93 percent within 14 days; 88 percent within 7 days; and 22 percent on the same day. VA has completed 12 million same-day appointments, which is 20 percent of VA’s total appointments per year.
• The combination of increasing appointments inside VA and in the community has resulted in approximately 7 million additional appointments for care. Considering that there were 290,000 Veterans waiting more than 30 days for care one year ago, this increase in capacity is double that required to meet last year’s demand.

Providing More Care in the Community

• VA made over 3 million authorizations for Veterans to receive care in the private sector between June 1, 2014 and June 15, 2015. This represents a 41 percent increase in authorizations, when compared to the same period in previous years. Over 1 million appointments are completed per month through doctors and clinics in the community, which represents nearly 20 percent of total appointments.
• VA expanded the Patient Centered Community Program (PC3) to increase access to health care in the community.
• VA extended the Project Access Received Closer to Home (Project ARCH) pilot program to continue to expand access to health care for eligible Veterans in rural areas.
• VA implemented the Choice Program in November of 2014, which allows Veterans greater flexibility in receiving healthcare from non-VA doctors if specific eligibility criteria are met:
  • A Veteran must have been enrolled in VA health care on or before August 1, 2014, or be eligible to enroll as a recently discharged combat Veteran within 5 years of separation.
  • The Veteran is told by his/her local VA medical facility that he/she will need to wait more than 30 days from his/her preferred date or the date medically determined by his/her physician.
  • The Veteran’s current residence is more than 40-miles driving distance from the closest VA health care facility.