What We Ask

1) Contain VA Community Care spending and regulate quality

a. Hold CC funding at 2025 levels, pending investigation and reform

i. Investigate overbilling, overtreatment, waste, and abuse by examining CC spending trends on a per-provider, per-patient, and per-claim basis

ii. Reform Third Party Administrator (TPA) contracts with Third Party Administrators (TPAs)

1. Decrease administrative fees to 15%

2. Investigate potential conflicts of Interest

b. Refine Community Care eligibility standards

i. Wait time: hold CCN providers to the same wait time standard as VHA

ii. Include VHA telehealth appointments toward wait-time goals when clinically appropriate and preferred by the veteran

c. Amend the following bills which advance VHA privatization

i. The Complete the Mission Act

ii. The Veterans ACCESS Act

2) Fully staff and fund VHA’s direct care services

a. Staffing

i. Promptly backfill the positions of the 30,000 staff members whose jobs were vacated in 2025

ii. To facilitate hiring, Reverse 2017 HR modernization program

iii. Freeze further “reorganizations” without Congressional approval.

b. Funding

i. Do not cut VHA’s discretionary Medical Service budget

3) Defer Medical Decision-Making to Clinicians, Patients, and Subject Matter Experts

a. Confirm a healthcare leader as Undersecretary of Health

b. Restore medical staff self-governance

c. Ensure VHA clinical protocols obey evidence-based practice guidelines

d. Restore scientific independence