The proposed SCHEDULES Act would mandate the Department of Veterans Affairs establish a maximum timeframe for veterans to get a specialized care appointment in the VA system or at an approved outside provider. Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., introduced the bill on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. (Stars and Stripes)
The Department of Veterans Affairs would have to establish a standard time frame for veterans to receive specialized care after a VA doctor’s referral under a bill introduced this week in the Senate.
Senators said the Scheduling for Community Health and Easy Data to Understand for Legislators to Evaluate Services Act of 2024, or the SCHEDULES Act, would mandate the department establish a maximum timeframe for veterans to get a specialized care appointment in the VA system or in an approved provider outside the VA, known as community care centers. Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., who introduced the bill on Wednesday, said it would hold the VA to account over long delays in veterans receiving the specialized care their primary doctors prescribe.
“Millions of veterans rely on the VA, and it is critical that our VA providers are accountable and responsive in delivering essential and often life-saving health care,” Scott, a Navy veteran, said in a statement. “My bill, the SCHEDULES Act, will increase transparency within the VA to require uniform standards across the board so veterans have more insight into when their appointments will be scheduled.”
Ossoff said veterans have been waiting “way too long to get health care” from the VA. The new bill would “hold the VA accountable to meet clear and transparent targets for reduced wait times.”
In addition to the standard timeframes, the new bill would require the VA to submit quarterly and annual reports to Congress that detail their success or failure rates in achieving the new time standards. It also calls for the department to publish annual public rankings of VA medical centers’ performance in meeting those measures.
Rep. Scott Franklin, R-Fla., introduced an accompanying measure in the House this week. Franklin, who served as a Navy pilot, said he has experienced first hand how “challenging the VA can be to navigate.”
“Far too often, vets suffer in painful or threatening situations waiting for a scheduled specialty care visit. That’s unacceptable,” Franklin said in a statement Thursday. “Veterans have earned the highest quality care, and Congress must hold the VA accountable to provide it quickly and reliably. This important bill would ensure the VA swiftly provides, not just schedules, needed care.”
Veterans have long struggled to receive timely specialty care from the VA. Last year, the Government Accountability Office found less than half of veterans received timely specialty care from outside doctors after a VA referral in 2022.
Patients are supposed to be able to schedule care in the VA system within three days and at outside providers within seven, according to the GAO. In some areas, veterans waited about 12 days on average for a specialty care appointment within the VA system. They averaged more than 34 days to get an appointment for specialty care in community care centers, the GAO found.
The SCHEDULES Act has been endorsed by the Blinded Veterans Association, Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Wounded Warrior Project, and Disabled American Veterans, according to Ossoff’s office.
“When disabled veterans walk into a VA medical facility, they do so with the understanding that they will receive access to the timely, high-quality health care that our nation has promised,” Nancy Espinosa, the national commander for the Disabled American Veterans, said in a statement. “Establishing a comprehensive standard for timing between referrals and appointments through the SCHEDULES Act … is one way to ensure that promise is kept.”
