Health Professionals Scholarship Program Improvement Act of 2025
Floor Speech
Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in support of H.R. 3767, the Health Professionals Scholarship Program Improvement Act of 2025, as amended.
For many years, the Health Professionals Scholarship Program has allowed VA to provide financial assistance to future medical professionals in return for a promise of service at VA facilities to ensure VA can meet its staffing needs. The program has had longstanding success in both ensuring prospective providers can complete their training and bolstering VA's workforce, especially in difficult-to-hire areas and for difficult-to-recruit professions.
However, some participants have expressed concerns that hiring delays at VA have prevented them from receiving their employment contracts in a timely manner. While there are many steps to onboarding new clinicians at VA, including necessary processes such as credentialing and privileging, we must make sure that VA does everything in its power to bring new staff on quickly, especially in the case of prospective providers who have proven themselves willing to serve the veteran community.
This legislation will ensure that VA provides employment contracts to graduates of the Health Professionals Scholarship Program within 90 days of completion of their programs or within 90 days of completing all necessary licensing and credentialing processes, whichever is later.
Participants in the Health Professionals Scholarship Program are dedicated to service to the veteran community and are vital to ensuring VA has sufficient staffing across the Nation.
We should continue to seek additional ways to improve the hiring and onboarding process at VA, including through additional workforce investments and improving the use of expedited hiring authorities.
However, in the meantime, there is an important step in ensuring this program fulfills its purpose, both for participants and for VA's workforce needs.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, once again, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 3767, the Health Professionals Scholarship Act of 2025, as amended.
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