Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014

Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014
Long title	To improve the access of veterans to medical services from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
Announced in	the 113th United States Congress
Sponsored by	Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY)
Citations
Public law	Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 113–146 (text) (PDF)
Legislative history
	Introduced in the House as H.R. 3230 by Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) on October 2, 2013; Committee consideration by United States House Committee on Appropriations; Passed the House on October 3, 2013 (Roll Call Vote 516: 265-160); Passed the Senate on June 11, 2014 (Roll Call Vote 187: 93-3); Signed into law by President Barack Obama on August 7, 2014;

The Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014 (H.R. 3230; Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 113–146 (text) (PDF)), also known as the Veterans Choice Act, is a United States public law that is intended to address the ongoing Veterans Health Administration scandal of 2014. The law expanded the number of options veterans have for receiving care and granted the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs more power to fire senior executives.^[1] The Veterans Health Administration scandal of 2014 began with the discovery that there was on-going systematic lying by the Veterans Health Administration about the wait times veterans experienced waiting to be seen by doctors.^[2]^[3] By June 5, 2014, Veterans Affairs internal investigations had identified a total of 35 veterans who had died while waiting for care in the Phoenix VHA system.^[4] Another audit determined that "more than 57,000 veterans waited at least 90 days to see a doctor, while another 63,000 over the last decade never received an initial appointment."^[5]

The bill was introduced into the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress under the name "Pay Our Guard and Reserve Act" as one of the October 2013 mini-continuing resolutions passed by the House during the United States federal government shutdown of 2013.^[6] President Obama signed it into law on August 7, 2014. The law includes access to healthcare at non-VA hospitals for rural veterans, as well as vast increases in staffing and facilities at existing VA medical centers.

^ Matishak, Martin; Wong, Kristina (11 June 2014). "Overnight Defense: Senate passes bipartisan VA fix". The Hill. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
^ Griffin, Richard J., Acting Inspector General, Interim Report: Review of Patient Wait Times, Scheduling Practices, and Alleged Patient Deaths at the Phoenix Health Care System, VA Office of Inspector General, Veterans Health Administration, Dept. of Veterans Affairs, May 28, 2014, 14-02603-178, Washington, D.C., retrieved June 7, 2014
^ Scott Bronstein and Drew Griffin (24 April 2014). "A fatal wait: Veterans languish and die on a VA hospital's secret list". CNN. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
^ Associated Press. "VA chief: 18 vets left off waiting list have died". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 7 June 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
^ Marcos, Cristina (10 June 2014). "House passes VA overhaul bill... twice". The Hill. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
^ Cite error: The named reference 3230allactions was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[OverDefSenpass-1] Matishak, Martin; Wong, Kristina (11 June 2014). "Overnight Defense: Senate passes bipartisan VA fix". The Hill. Retrieved 13 June 2014.

[va_ig_report_2014_05_28-2] Griffin, Richard J., Acting Inspector General, Interim Report: Review of Patient Wait Times, Scheduling Practices, and Alleged Patient Deaths at the Phoenix Health Care System, VA Office of Inspector General, Veterans Health Administration, Dept. of Veterans Affairs, May 28, 2014, 14-02603-178, Washington, D.C., retrieved June 7, 2014

[A_fatal_wait-3] Scott Bronstein and Drew Griffin (24 April 2014). "A fatal wait: Veterans languish and die on a VA hospital's secret list". CNN. Retrieved 31 May 2014.

[VA_chief:_18_vets-4] Associated Press. "VA chief: 18 vets left off waiting list have died". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 7 June 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.

[HillHousePasses10june-5] Marcos, Cristina (10 June 2014). "House passes VA overhaul bill... twice". The Hill. Retrieved 12 June 2014.

[3230allactions-6] Cite error: The named reference 3230allactions was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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