Blackburn, Duckworth Bill to Improve Access to Care for Rural Veterans Passes Committee

"Far too many rural Veterans-including in Illinois-don't have adequate access to VA care in their communities, which forces them to travel unacceptably long distances or wait prolonged periods of time to see providers to receive the care they need and have earned through their service," said Senator Duckworth. "The VA must ensure it's doing everything possible to fulfill its core mission of providing timely, high-quality care to our heroes-regardless of where they live. Our bill would help ensure Veterans who live in rural communities can more easily access VA care, while reinforcing VA as the medical center home, and I'm proud it passed through committee. Now the Senate should expeditiously pass our commonsense, bipartisan bill that would enhance access to VA care for millions of rural Veterans."

BACKGROUND

• There are approximately 2.7 million veterans in rural and highly rural areas enrolled in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) today, and more than half of them are aged 65 or older and require more frequent, continuous, and costly care to address their complex medical conditions. Rural hospitals often lack the resources or partnerships required to give our heroes care they need, which results in rural veterans enduring long travel times and extended wait periods to access VA care.

• The Improving Access to Care for Rural Veterans Act would address this issue by:

• Requiring the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish agreements between VA medical centers and rural medical facilities, with a flexible range of supported frameworks-including co-location, telehealth, leasing of space and equipment, training, care coordination, and more-that allow VA to collaborate with rural facilities in a manner that best suits the unique needs of a given VA medical center system;
• Directing the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop a standardized 5-year, renewable waiver for VA medical centers that are unable to fulfill this requirement; and
• Requiring the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide a briefing to Congress on implementation, as well as recurring reports on operations and performance of agreements established under this legislation.

• The legislation is endorsed by AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans (DAV), and the National Rural Health Association (NRHA).

• Senators Blackburn and Duckworth also both pushed to pass the Sergeant First Class (SFC) Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act, historic legislation that was signed into law in 2022 to overhaul the VA's processes for toxic-exposed veterans to include presumptions for several illnesses associated with burn pits and Agent Orange exposures and is helping deliver long-overdue VA healthcare and benefits across all generations of veterans.

Click here for bill text.