Improving Oversight of Veterans Community Care Providers Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. PAPPAS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Takano for yielding.

I rise today in support of my bipartisan legislation, H.R. 7277, the Improving Oversight of Veterans Community Care Providers Act.

This legislation will help ensure that the Department of Veterans Affairs does a better job overseeing its Community Care Program, which many veterans in my State of New Hampshire and all across the country rely on to access high-quality care in their communities.

When veterans visit a community healthcare provider, they should be assured, at a minimum, that the provider has a medical license and is eligible to do business with the Federal Government. Unfortunately, as a December 2021 GAO report detailed, this has not always been the case.

GAO identified approximately 1,600 community care providers who were deceased, ineligible to work with the Federal Government, or who had revoked or suspended medical licenses at the time of the review.

That is 1,600 physicians and other healthcare providers who failed to meet some of the program's most basic requirements. This poses a potential threat to veteran health and well-being, and risks wasting tax dollars on inappropriate medical charges. My legislation will strengthen oversight of these community care providers.

Now, to VA's credit, the Department has updated several data systems to improve the credentialing process and to continuously monitor the eligibility of providers. But progress has been too slow, and this legislation is needed to hold the Department fully accountable.

This bill will require VA to implement a detailed plan with required milestones for identifying healthcare providers who are no longer eligible to participate in the Community Care Program.

Under the plan, VA will automatically check whether providers are designated as ineligible on other critical lists managed by the Department of Health and Human Services and CMMS.

VA will also be required to analyze the efficacy of allowing community care providers to self-certify their eligibility to participate in the program. We need VA to adopt a more complete method for credentialing providers that has ample checks and balances.

I thank Ranking Member Tracey Mann for working with me on this bipartisan legislation, which has also been endorsed by VFW, the American Legion, and Disabled American Veterans.

Once enacted, it will give much-needed protection to veterans to ensure they have high-quality healthcare they earned through their service to our Nation, without fear that they may be receiving care from an ineligible provider. So I urge all colleagues to support this legislation today.

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