Blog

Ensuring Quality Care for Our Veterans Act

Washington, D.C., October 28, 2019

Tags: Veterans

With over 1,200 facilities serving more than 9 million patients annually, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is our nation’s largest healthcare system. There are thousands of medical providers who care for VHA patients. Those providers obviously must be certified in their field of practice, and must not have had certifications revoked “for cause” by a state licensing board.

While it’s rare that a medical provider with a revoked license would slip through the VHA hiring process, the fact is that across the nation, numerous state agencies and practitioner databases make it difficult to guarantee the accuracy of all employment records. Unfortunately, there have been several instances where the VHA hired a medical provider based on evidence showing that person had valid licenses, only to find out later that wasn’t the case.

Last week, I introduced a bill in the House called the “Ensuring Quality Care for Our Veterans Act.” It provides specific directives to the VHA for this exact situation. If the VHA discovers that one of its providers has had certifications revoked, this bill would require an external (non-government) medical provider thoroughly review the care that each patient received from the VHA. This is to ensure those patients did, in fact, receive the care they deserved.

This bill is H.R. 4858. I believe we have a responsibility to provide the highest levels of care for those who have served our nation, so I want to thank Rep. Richard Hudson from North Carolina for co-sponsoring this bill, and also Sen. Joni Ernst for introducing companion legislation over in the U.S. Senate.