Veterans' Care Quality Transparency Act

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2372) to direct the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct an assessment of all memoranda of understanding and memoranda of agreement between Under Secretary of Health and non- Department of Veterans Affairs entities relating to suicide prevention and mental health services, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2372, as amended.

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

Madam Speaker, to meet the needs of veterans, VA has long relied on community partners to provide outreach and services, particularly to address mental health needs and suicide prevention.

The number of mental health- and suicide prevention-related agreements between VA and these organizations has increased exponentially since 2014. It is anticipated that these relationships will continue to grow in the months following the signing of Executive Order No. 13861 on March 5, 2019.

Now, this executive order seeks to establish grants to local communities to better collaborate and integrate service delivery and resources for veterans. As reliance on outside groups grows, Congress must better understand the effectiveness of the programs and mental health services these private organizations offer. VA must also ensure such partnered organizations are able to provide quality, culturally competent, evidence-based services to veterans.

Congresswoman Underwood's legislation, H.R. 2372, as amended, would require the Government Accountability Office to study the effectiveness of these partnerships between VA and organizations providing services related to suicide prevention and mental healthcare.

When complete, GAO would report their findings to the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees. As part of the assessment, GAO is required to look at several factors, such as the staffing structure of the organization, its accreditations or licensures, the level of oversight and tracking of outcomes by VA, and the secure exchange of data and information.

The GAO would also be required to study the ability of these organizations to serve unique subsets of the veteran population, including, women, minorities, older and younger veteran cohorts, families, and veterans who reside in U.S. insular areas.

I thank Ms. Underwood for introducing this legislation because it will ensure VA is responsibly leveraging its community partnerships to reduce veteran suicide and support VA in its transformation to a public health approach to suicide prevention. This public health approach focuses on prevention and intervention before veterans are in crisis.

As I previously mentioned, a two-pronged strategy is necessary to address the national crisis of veteran suicide. These Federal, State, and local partnerships are integral to the first prong of the strategy of prevention and early intervention.

It is critical that we develop these partnerships as part of an infrastructure to support veterans. This legislation will ensure we are using taxpayer funds effectively to partner with those organizations providing quality, evidence-based programs.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to support this legislation, and I encourage all my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 2372, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Underwood), my good friend, member of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee, and author of H.R. 2372.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I want to thank Congresswoman Underwood for introducing H.R. 2372, and the tremendous, tremendous professional background she brings to her role in Congress, and for introducing legislation that will ensure that we hold private organizations to the same standard of care that we impose internally on the VA.

So I do urge all of my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 2372, as amended.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, the Veterans' Care Quality Transparency Act.

With Memorial Day just around the corner, I am humbled to see these bipartisan efforts to bring forward legislation that will help all veterans receive the care that they have earned through their service to our Nation.

I am so pleased to see the chairman's focus on ensuring access to healthcare for veterans, particularly women veterans, who face unique challenges navigating a VA system originally designed to serve men.

I am committed to working to make needed improvements to the VA by working with my colleagues on the Servicewomen and Women Veterans Congressional Caucus and on the Women Veterans Task Force.

I am also pleased to see this bipartisan, wide-ranging focus on veterans' mental health and suicide prevention.

Our work, however, has just begun. We have an urgent responsibility to continue to fight for the highest standards of care on behalf of veterans.

Despite much good work by the VA and significant Federal investment, the veteran suicide rate hasn't gone down. We must empower the VA to find innovative, effective ways to end this crisis. That is why I have introduced this bill, which will address a vital but overlooked part of veteran suicide prevention.

The bill directs the GAO to evaluate the effectiveness of agreements that the Department of Veterans Affairs has with outside providers for mental healthcare and suicide prevention services.

Expanding access to care for veterans struggling with mental health or with thoughts of suicide is an essential part of reducing veteran suicide rates, and partnering with providers outside the VA is just one way to do that. But there just isn't enough data on the ability of these outside providers to meet the high standards of care we expect from the VA.

All veterans deserve access to convenient and high-quality healthcare, and it is unacceptable that outside providers are not currently held to the same high standards as the VA.

The mission of the VA is undermined each time a veteran receives substandard care. My bill would help ensure outside providers are held to the standard of providing high-quality mental healthcare and suicide prevention services.

Our efforts to stop veteran suicide need to focus on wider, better informed, and data-driven paths to tangible results so that we can save lives. This bill is about increasing transparency so that we can ensure that those who have served our Nation are not left behind when they return home.

I am grateful to my colleagues on the Committee on Veterans' Affairs who have reaffirmed their commitment to this issue and who have acted so quickly to respond to the veteran suicide crisis with the focus and resources it deserves.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this bill.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2372, as amended, the Veterans' Care Quality Transparency Act.

This bill is sponsored by Congresswoman Lauren Underwood of Illinois, and I thank her for her efforts to bring it to the House floor today.

This bill would require the Government Accountability Office to conduct an assessment of the effectiveness of all memoranda of understanding and memoranda of agreement entered into by the Department of Veterans Affairs and other governmental or private-sector entities regarding suicide prevention activities and outreach, as well as the coordination of mental health services, during the 5-year period preceding the date of enactment.

For the last two decades, approximately 20 of our Nation's servicemembers and veterans have died by suicide on a daily basis.

Suicide is, unquestionably, a tragedy that impacts all Americans and is a crisis that VA cannot combat alone. In light of that, VA has become increasingly mindful of the need to collaborate with partners in both the public and private sectors to connect with servicemembers, veterans, and their families wherever they reside and with whatever they may be struggling.

This bill would ensure that Congress has insight into those collaborations and whether or not they are working as intended to reduce incidents of suicide among those who have served our country.

Madam Speaker, I encourage all Members to support this bill today, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank Congresswoman Underwood for submitting this legislation today. I think it is much needed. I have thought it all along. Let's find out what works and what doesn't work. I appreciate her doing this, and I feel like it will be supported by the entire body.

I encourage all Members of the body to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.