Van Hollen, Elfreth Lead Colleagues in Fight to Expand Veterans’ Care at Walter Reed

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Congresswoman Sarah Elfreth (D-MD-03), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, led their colleagues in urging the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs to select Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, to expand access to care for veterans as part of the implementation of Elfreth's "Improvement of Availability of Care for Veterans from Facilities and Providers of the Department of Defense" provision of last year's National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Senator and Congresswoman were joined by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) and John Fetterman (D-PA) and Representatives Steny Hoyer (D-MD-05), Andy Harris (R-MD-01), Jamie Raskin (D-MD-08), Kweisi Mfume (D-MD-07), Glenn Ivey (D-MD-04), Johnny Olszewski (D-MD-02), and April McClain Delaney (D-MD-06) in their advocacy for Walter Reed.

Elfreth worked with Congressman Derek Schmidt (R-KS-02) on this provision to expand access to care for veterans nationwide and is now urging the selection of Walter Reed as a demonstration location to serve veterans in the National Capital Region and Pennsylvania area. The law specifically allows military and VA medical facilities to strengthen resource sharing, increase the utilization of military medical facilities with available capacity, and increase the volume of complex cases available for professional medical education.

"Walter Reed is well positioned to advance these objectives. As the Nation's flagship joint military medical center, it brings together highly specialized clinical services, medical education, research, rehabilitation, and operational medicine. Its location in the National Capital Region will allow the hospital to serve a large population center of veterans across Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia, providing the best site to launch this program and study its success. Walter Reed maintains strong partnerships with leading health and research institutions, including Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, University of Maryland Medical Center, the National Institutes of Health, the VA Maryland Health Care System, the Washington, D.C. VA Medical Center, and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences," wrote the Maryland delegation members. "Together, its clinical capabilities, regional reach, and institutional partnerships make Walter Reed a strong location to demonstrate how closer coordination between the Departments can improve veterans' access to care while strengthening military medical readiness, clinical expertise, and professional education."

"We therefore respectfully request that the Health Executive Committee: Provide the criteria being used to identify participating facilities and the anticipated implementation timeline; Conduct a joint assessment of Walter Reed's available capacity, clinical capabilities, and suitability for inclusion in an action plan under the FY2026 NDAA provision; Engage Walter Reed leadership and the directors of relevant VA medical centers in developing a facility-level implementation plan; Select Walter Reed as a demonstration location whose practices and lessons could inform future health care sharing agreements nationwide," the members continued.

Elfreth learned about the ability to expand veterans' access to care on her visit to Walter Reed, which was one stop on her statewide defense tour during her first year on the Armed Services Committee.

The Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs' Health Executive Committee are anticipated to make a final decision in the following months and provide a report to Congress a month later on their selection and implementation plan.

The full letter can be accessed HERE.

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