Noteboom The Law Firm

VA Health Care Hasn’t Gone Rural Yet

May 7, 2010 - Last week the House Veterans' Affairs Health Subcommittee held a meeting to determine how much progress the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has made in executing their enhanced contract care pilot program, which brings contract health care to those veterans living in rural areas.

Congress authorized the pilot program which mandated the VA conduct a 3-year limited test program. The VA was to look at 5 regions with a high concentration of rural veterans who were already enrolled in the VA health care system and provide them with health care through contracted personnel, i.e., non-VA providers.

The number of veterans affected by such a program is significant. Almost 3 million veterans receiving care from the VA health care system live in rural areas. While only about 100,000 veterans live in what would be considered highly rural areas, this number is expected to increase. A large percentage of soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have been recruited from rural communities.

One popular concern among the Subcommittee members was the geographic restrictions limiting the program to far fewer veterans than the VA had originally planned on reaching. In response to this concern, it was explained while the program could be geographically expanded, the result would be longer waiting periods for veterans to receive their contracted health care.  

This program, like every other VA program, is subject to a strong balancing. One the one hand is recognizing the veterans' health care needs in such rural areas. On the other hand, the program has to be effective and able to be sustained for many years.