GRAND FORKS, N.D. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today convened veterans, local U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) leaders, and health care providers to discuss fixes she has proposed to improve the Veterans Choice program so North Dakota veterans get quality, timely care in their home communities. As Heitkamp works to reform the program, she’s gathering insight from veterans and care providers.

Heitkamp also encouraged veterans to take advantage of the Vet Center she successfully pushed the VA to bring to Grand Forks. The Vet Center offers counseling to veterans, servicemembers, and their families at 300 Cherry Street in Grand Forks, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

“Despite its best intentions, the Veterans Choice program isn’t working – especially for rural veterans,” said Heitkamp. “Bringing together veterans, folks from the VA, and community health providers is critical as I work to reform the program and guarantee veterans get the care they need. No veteran should struggle to get cancer treatments, x-rays, or basic medical services in their home communities – and by fixing this program, we can better fulfill our obligations to North Dakota veterans.”

In March, Heitkamp helped introduce a bill to reform the Veterans Choice program. The Improving Veterans Access to Care in the Community Act would give the VA flexibility to improve care for North Dakota veterans by streamlining and consolidating community care programs, while eliminating bureaucratic obstacles preventing veterans from accessing care.

Congress passed a bipartisan bill to reform the VA and improve access to care in 2014, and since then Heitkamp has pushed to make sure the bill is implemented properly – especially for veterans who live far from VA medical facilities. The reforms included a Veterans Choice program to allow veterans who have difficulty obtaining a timely appointment with the VA or live more than 40 miles from a VA health care facility to seek care from local providers. However, countless North Dakota veterans – as well as some participating community health providers – have shared serious challenges they have encountered in the new program.

Heitkamp’s Improving Veterans Access to Care in the Community Act aims to improve the Veterans Choice program by:

• Giving VA the local spending flexibility it needs in places like North Dakota to steer veterans to care in the manner that makes the most sense for each veteran

• Strengthening VA provider agreements to make sure the VA is better able to provide care in the community for veterans in a timely manner

• Consolidating VA's multiple community care programs into a single, efficient program with straightforward eligibility criteria that takes into account the type of care required

• Improving medical records management and strengthening existing care coordination capabilities to improve consistency, simplicity and timeliness of information exchange

• Expanding access to emergency treatment and urgent community care for veterans.

Two provisions from that bill – which would boost VA spending flexibility and simplify VA medical provider agreements – were included in the Veterans First Act, a bill the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee passed in May. The bill is awaiting consideration by the Senate. 

Heitkamp today also encouraged Grand Forks area veterans to take advantage of the counseling and readjustment services offered by the Vet Center she pushed for. Over the course of six months, Heitkamp pressed VA Secretary Robert McDonald to bring a much-needed Vet Center to Grand Forks before the VA finally agreed to her request in May.  

Vet Centers help veterans readjust to civilian life by providing free counseling, screening, and referral services while removing the stigma of seeking mental health care. Expanding access in Grand Forks from one day a week to five days – as Heitkamp has long called for – has dramatically improved counseling services for veterans and servicemembers.

The bipartisan year-end spending bill Congress passed in December, which Heitkamp supported, included $258 million for Readjustment Counseling Services – $15 million above the requested level. The increased funds are directed towards Vet Centers to address unmet mental health needs of veterans in rural and very rural areas like North Dakota, and Heitkamp has pushed for VA to use those funds in Grand Forks.