Improving Oversight of Veterans Community Care Providers Act of 2022

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7277) to improve the methods by which the Secretary of Veterans Affairs identifies health care providers that are not eligible to participate in the Veterans Community Care Program, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 7277, as amended.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7277, the Improving Oversight of Veterans Community Care Providers Act, as amended, a bill that will take important steps toward ensuring that healthcare providers meet the eligibility requirements and standards of VA's Community Care Program.

I thank Representative Chris Pappas, chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, for his work on this bipartisan bill.

I was disturbed by a recent Government Accountability Office report requested by Chairman Pappas and Ranking Member Tracey Mann, which identified approximately 1,600 healthcare providers who were deceased, ineligible to work with the Federal Government, or who had revoked or suspended medical licenses, yet were still listed as active providers in VA's Community Care networks.

While the number of ineligible providers was a small fraction of the roughly 1.2 million active providers in VA's Community Care networks, they still represented a potential threat to veteran health and safety, and a risk for financial fraud.

Congressman Pappas' bill would require VA to implement GAO's recommendations to ensure veterans and taxpayers are not put at risk.

The bill will modify standard operating procedures at the VA Health Administration and require continuous matching of providers' information against several data sources in order to verify eligibility, such as the List of Excluded Individuals and Entities that the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General maintains, the National Practitioner Data Bank, and the monthly deactivation file of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

This will go a long way toward ensuring that physicians and other providers in VA's Community Care networks meet the basic and necessary standards, such as proper and current licensing requirements.

This bill has the support of the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it will have no significant impact on direct spending or deficits.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Pappas), my good friend, who is the author of this legislation and who serves as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

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

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

I urge all of my colleagues to join me in passing this important piece of legislation, H.R. 7277, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 7277, as amended, the Improving Oversight of the Veterans Community Care Providers Act.

This is a bipartisan bill led by Chairman Pappas and Ranking Member Mann of the Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee.

H.R. 7277 would implement recent recommendations from the Government Accountability Office on how to improve oversight of community care. Community care is VA care, and it should be timely and of the highest quality.

Unfortunately, our committee has heard repeated complaints of delays in community care. Long wait-times at VA medical centers and delays in community care are unacceptable, and we take these complaints very seriously.

The committee will continue our strict oversight of the program to ensure veterans are getting the care they need when and where they need it. It is vital to protect this important option for veterans, and I encourage all my colleagues to support the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I am not recorded for Roll Call votes No. 481, No. 482, No. 483, No. 484, and No. 485. Had I been present, I would have voted Yes on Roll Call No. 481 En Bloc Suspensions (H.R. 5721, H.R. 7299, H.R. 7277, H.R. 4275, H.R. 6290, H.R. 5502, H.R. 8416); Yes on Roll Call No. 482 (S. 3369); Yes on Roll Call No. 483 (S. 4359); Yes on Roll Call No. 484 (H.R. 2250); and Yes on Roll Call No. 485 (H.R. 3630).

Madam Speaker, pursuant to section 2 of House Resolution 1464, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bills: H.R. 4275, H.R. 5502, H.R. 5721, H.R. 6290, H.R. 7277, H.R. 7299, and