Group of Senators Blocks Proposed VA Facilities Restructuring

Abstract

Of Veterans Affairs proposal revamping the VA's extensive network of hospitals and other health care facilities. Twelve Senators, led by Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester, said in a June 27 statement that they oppose the process established by a 2018 law for launching an overhaul of VA's system of facilities. VA's proposal, issued in March, would shut some facilities, build new ones and expand or reconfigure others. The proposal would respond to such trends as an increase in the number of veterans who live in certain parts of the South and West and a reduction in the number who live in the northeast and Midwest, a spokesperson said in March. In the report outlining the new facilities network, department Secretary Denis McDonough said it would replace "Old, outdated, run-down facilities with state-of-the-art facilities designed with veterans and VA employees in mind."The median age of VA's buildings is almost 60 years, compared with a median of 8.5 years for U.S. private-sector hospitals. At the time the proposal was released, he said that "Any effort to kneecap our veterans' health care is a non-starter for me,"The AIR program has its supporters. Sen. Jerry Moran, the veterans' affairs panel's top Republican, said in a statement, "Many of the VA's facilities are empty, underutilized and severely outdated."Moran added, "We passed the VA MISSION Act to address these issues but by refusing to confirm commissioners, we are essentially shutting down the work of the AIR Commission and possibly our only opportunity to fix this long-standing issue."If the AIR proposal doesn't resurface in some form, decisions on funding and building new VA hospitals and clinics would continue to rest with Congress, including the appropriations committees.