Hearing Of The Subcommittee On Health Of The House Committee On Veterans Affairs - U.S. Department Of Veterans Affairs' Implementation Of The Enhanced Contract Care Pilot Program

Statement

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

As always, I appreciate your leadership and I thank you for holding this hearing today to review the status of VA's implementation of the enhanced contract care pilot program enacted into law in the 110th Congress as section 403 of Public Law 110-387.

I also want to commend my good friend and colleague from Kansas, Jerry Moran, for his work and continued commitment to serving rural veterans. Jerry was the sponsor of the Rural Veterans Access to Care Act which led to the establishment of this three-year demonstration project to allow highly rural veterans to receive covered services through non-VA providers.

Of the almost 8 million veterans enrolled in the VA health care system, approximately 3 million reside in rural areas. Often, these veterans face incredible difficulties in accessing VA health care. Many must find transportation and traverse hours across rough terrain to reach the nearest VA hospital. If a round-trip is not possible in one day because of distance, the rural veteran and their family may be compelled to stay overnight. These difficulties can make even routine medical appointments an expensive and lengthy chore and discourage rural veterans from using the health benefits to which their service entitled them.

Helping to ease that burden and ensure that even those veterans who choose to make their homes in the most rural of areas have access to the high quality care they deserve is a priority of all of us on this subcommittee. And, this pilot is very important to determine ways to best serve our veterans residing in highly rural areas.

As more and more veterans return to their rural homes from Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom and rural veterans from earlier wars continue to require care, we must continually evaluate our actions and determine what more can be done to provide timely and appropriate access to medical care.

In that vein, I am eager to hear from the VA this morning on what the Department is doing to implement the law and what additional steps should be taken to ensure its success.

I thank our witness for being here, look forward to our discussion, and yield back the balance of my time.

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