VICTOR Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2601) to amend the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to improve the access of veterans to organ transplants, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that at all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2601, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2601, as amended, the Veterans Increased Choice for Transplanted Organs and Recovery, or VICTOR, Act of 2017, which is sponsored by my good friend and fellow committee member, Dr. Neal Dunn from the great State of Florida.

The VA healthcare system has offered solid organ transplant services since 1962 and bone marrow transplant services since 1982 through the VA Transplant Program, which manages 13 transplant centers across the country.

However, since Congress created the Choice Program in 2014 to address access to care concerns at VA medical facilities, the committee has heard an increasing number of complaints about the VA Transplant Program from veterans who are concerned about the lengthy travel required for many veterans to reach a VA transplant center and bureaucratic barriers to receiving transplant care closer to home.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, a greater distance from a VA transplant center was associated with a lower likelihood of receiving a transplant and a greater likelihood of death among veteran transplant patients.

That can't happen. This is unacceptable, in my opinion. H.R. 2601, as amended, represents a commonsense solution. That is what we are all about today: commonsense solutions for our true heroes. It would require the VA to consider whether there is a medically compelling reason to require a veteran to travel outside the organ procurement and transplantation network region that the veteran resides in to receive a transplant from a VA transplant center, or whether the veteran faces an unusual or excessive burden in receiving a transplant from a VA transplant center before referring a veteran to a VA transplant center, rather than to a community transplant center.

This would greatly increase access to transplant care in the community for veteran transplant patients living far from VA transplant centers.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Dunn), the sponsor of the bill and my good friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Bost).

Mr. Speaker, I encourage all the Members to support this great piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, let me start by saying thank you to Vice Chairman Bilirakis; and to our chairman, Dr. Roe; and also to the ranking member, Sergeant Major Walz from Minnesota. It has been great to work with them. They have been very helpful with this bill.

I am honored to speak in support of my legislation, H.R. 2601, the Veterans Increased Choice for Transplanted Organs and Recovery, or VICTOR, Act.

America owes our veterans every advantage when it comes to receiving an organ or bone marrow transplant, yet the current VA transplant policy often runs counter to the medical interest of the patient. There are only 14 facilities in the Nation where a veteran may receive a transplant in the VA healthcare system, and none of these facilities perform all types of transplants.

Timely organ transplants often represent the difference between life and death. Unfortunately, due to government bureaucracy, our veterans are often forced to travel hundreds or thousands of miles repeatedly in order to get the chance to receive a new liver, heart, or kidney. That travel alone can prove fatal.

Traveling to get a transplant isn't the only obstacle these patients face. Oftentimes, it is the program itself. The limited size and scope of the VA transplant program means veterans have a lower chance of getting a transplant and a greater chance of dying while on the waiting list.

The VICTOR Act allows veterans who need an organ or bone marrow transplant through the VA system the ability to access a federally certified transplant center close to their home if the veteran and their doctor agree that that is medically safer. It will make it easier for veterans to access lifesaving medical care by allowing them a number of ways to qualify for care closer to home.

As a surgeon and as a veteran, I believe this is good medicine and good public policy. The status quo puts roadblocks in front of veterans who need lifesaving transplant care, and the VICTOR Act eliminates these roadblocks and increases access to care our veterans have earned.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to support H.R. 2601, the Veterans Increased Choice for Transplanted Organs and Recovery (VICTOR) Act of 2017. This is an important piece of legislation and I am pleased to support it.

The Veterans Health Administration has provided solid organ transplants since 1962 and bone marrow transplants since 1982. Currently, there are fourteen locations across the country that provide these services. However, if a veteran does not live near one of these facilities, the difficulty of travel could prevent veterans from getting the medical care they need. Also, even if veterans are able to get to a facility, they still face the risk of getting waitlisted. We need to provide more options to veterans who require life-saving organ transplant operations. H.R. 2601 provides the solution to this problem by amending the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to allow eligible veterans to receive health care from any facility which is related to the Department of Defense, the Indian Health Service, federal health centers, or any other health-care provider who participates in the Medicare program. The conditions of this program apply to veterans who need an organ transplant operation, live more than 100 miles from a Veterans Affair transplant center, and need care related to an upcoming transplant.

Since the closest Veterans Affairs transplant center to my district in Georgia is almost 150 miles away in Birmingham, Alabama, this bill would have a major impact for the nearly 45,000 veterans who live in my district. Should anyone require a transplant surgery, they would first be able to explore their options in Atlanta instead of being forced to travel to a different state, which is why I support H.R. 2601.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2601, the VICTOR Act. This legislation will again eliminate barriers to high-quality organ transplant centers for certain veterans seeking their services by allowing veterans access to a transplant center, regardless of its location, when a provider determines there is a medically compelling reason to do so, or when the veteran would face unusual or excessive burden in receiving the transplant at a VA facility.

That is smart. That is common sense. It makes the case that the transplant facilities at the VA are good, but, as Dr. Dunn pointed out, a diverse society, a diverse geographic spread of veterans, certain cases come up that make it medically wrong to try and transport someone to a further facility. And for all of those reasons, this is, again, one of those things that is just smart, all in the interest of the best care for our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, again, it makes great sense. We are in full support of the bill. I urge my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 2601.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding as well. The VA currently requires veterans in need of organ transplants to travel to VA transplant centers to receive their transplant. Waiting times at these centers average 32 percent longer than those non-VA transplant centers.

In addition, we have reports that show that the further the veteran is from a VA transplant center, the less likely the veteran is to receive the organ transplant. This can ultimately prove fatal. We owe it to our Nation's

heroes to provide them the best possible care, regardless of where they live.

Mr. Speaker, I support the legislation offered by my friend and colleague from Florida, Dr. Dunn, to solve this problem. I am just amazed that we have waited this long to realize we had one.

The VICTOR Act allows veterans who live more than 100 miles from one of the VA's 13 transplant centers to seek care at a federally certified, non-VA facility. I am proud to cosponsor the VICTOR Act because our veterans shouldn't be punished just because of where they live.