The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced proposed
rules for determining which veterans would be able to seek medical care in the
private sector starting this summer -- their eligibility guidelines based on
drive times and appointment waiting periods that could significantly expand the
number of veterans seen outside the VA.
The VA Mission Act required the department to consolidate
its private-sector care programs into a comprehensive community-care system
that will provide veterans access to private health care networks under certain
circumstances.
The criteria established by the law included access for
veterans who live in a state without a VA medical center, who can’t access
needed treatments at the VA, who have special medical needs, or who live more
than 40 miles from a VA medical center.
The law also stipulated that veterans who meet certain
standards for access to care developed by the VA could opt to use the network
instead of going to a VA medical center or clinic.
Those access standards, announced Wednesday by VA Secretary
Robert Wilkie, are based on driving times and appointment wait times.
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