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Pappas’s Bipartisan Legislation to Improve Community Care Program Passes House

November 17, 2022

Today, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01), Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee led the House of Representatives in passing his bipartisan legislation, the Improving Oversight of the Veterans Community Care Providers Act. This bill will require the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to deactivate ineligible providers from its Community Care Network and help mitigate both the risk of veterans receiving care from unqualified health care providers and of VHA making payments to fraudulent providers.

“Veterans who served our country should always have access to benefits they have earned, especially safe, high-quality health care,” said Congressman Pappas. “My Improving Oversight of the Veterans Community Care Providers Act will require VA to improve its processes for identifying and removing ineligible health care providers from the Community Care Program. By improving oversight of VA’s Community Care Program, we are ensuring that veterans have access to critical health care services from qualified providers. I want to thank Congressman Mann for partnering with me on this important bill, and I’m pleased to see this legislation pass the House today with bipartisan support. I urge the Senate to quickly pass this legislation so that we may continue to honor our veterans by providing them quality health care."

Specifically, the legislation would require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out a plan to improve its processes for identifying and removing ineligible healthcare providers from the Community Care Program, including:

  • Performing automated continuous checks of providers in its Community Care networks against multiple exclusionary data sources the federal government maintains
  • Conducting a fraud risk analysis and an examination of existing fraud controls within the Office of Community Care
  • Submitting a report to Congress on its progress carrying out the plan and recommendations for future legislative action to further improve the methods by which VA identifies health care providers that are not eligible to participate in the Community Care Program

Background: 

In January, Pappas and Mann were joined by Congresswoman Julia Brownley and Congressman Jack Bergman in a bipartisan letter calling for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to deactivate ineligible providers from its Community Care Network.

In March, Pappas and Mann introduced bipartisan bill H.R. 7277, the Improving Oversight of the Veterans Community Care Providers Act, which would ensure veterans access to safe, high-quality care by enhancing VA oversight of their Community Care Program.

In April, Pappas and Mann’s bipartisan bill, the Improving Oversight of the Veterans Community Care Providers Act, advanced out of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs markup.

Issues:Veterans