Senators Hassan and Boozman Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Make it Easier for Veterans to Schedule Medical Appointments

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and John Boozman (R-AR), members of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, introduced the Improving Veteran Access to Care Act, bipartisan legislation to improve the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) health care scheduling process so that veterans can easily schedule multiple visits at once through one phone call or online.

Currently, veterans do not have access to one centralized platform to schedule appointments for many types of VA-based specialty care. Veterans often prefer to schedule various specialist appointments that they need for the same day – in order to avoid multiple trips to the VA – but they must call individual clinics to set up appointments for specialty care. Attempting to coordinate multiple appointments through multiple phone calls and trips places a burden on all veterans, but particularly on those who must travel a long distance for appointments. The Senators’ Improving Veteran Access to Care Act would address this issue by requiring the VA to create a streamlined scheduling system where veterans can either call or go online to view and schedule appointments for all types of VA care.

“After all they’ve given to our country, veterans should be able to get VA care that serves their needs and that respects their time – but the current VA system for scheduling multiple appointments is complicated and burdensome. This is especially true for veterans in rural areas who often must travel long distances to receive care,” said Senator Hassan. “This commonsense, bipartisan bill will create a more streamlined and user-friendly scheduling process, and will make it easier for veterans in New Hampshire and across the country to access the health care they have earned and deserve.”

“Ensuring the VA can provide the resources and care our servicemembers earned and expect must always be a priority,” said Boozman. “By streamlining the medical appointment scheduling process for our veterans, we can remove inefficiencies that hinder this critical mission so they get the help they need in a timely fashion.”

The bipartisan legislation is supported by Veterans Service Organizations including Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), the American Legion, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).

“By establishing an integrated project team, the 'Improving Veteran Access to Care Act' aims to revolutionize the scheduling process for health care appointments within the Department of Veterans Affairs. This initiative focuses on timely delivery of care, enhanced access, improved customer experience, and greater efficiency, ultimately providing our veterans with the quality care they deserve. DAV would like to thank Senator Maggie Hassan and Senator John Boozman for introducing the 'Improving Veterans Access to Care Act,' which creates a team to improve the scheduling process for health care appointments and ensure our veterans receive timely access to care they have earned and urgently need,” said Jon Retzer, Deputy National Legislative Director for Health for Disabled American Veterans.

The Improving Veteran Access to Care Act would require the VA to create an integrated project team that would coordinate with existing VA projects to improve appointment scheduling, with a focus on the following objectives:

1. Creating a system that enables VA personnel and patients to view available appointments for all VA-based care;
2. Creating a self-service online scheduling platform that allows VA patients to find and schedule VA health care appointments; and
3. Creating a telephone process through which VA patients can make a single call to find and schedule VA health care appointments.

This bipartisan bill is part of Senator Hassan’s ongoing work to support service members, veterans, and their families. She helped develop and pass into law the bipartisan PACT Act, a historic bill that fundamentally reforms and improves the ways in which veterans exposed to toxic substances receive health care and benefits from the VA. Earlier this year, the VA expanded health care eligibility under the PACT Act so that more veterans can get care. Senator Hassan also introduced and helped pass into law bipartisan legislation to strengthen the Solid Start program, through which VA employees contact every veteran three times by phone in the first year after veterans leave active duty service to check in and help connect these new veterans to VA programs and benefits.

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