By Teresa Morris, NOVA Director, Advocacy & Government Relations

Greetings NOVA Members –

Both Chambers of Congress (House and Senate) are back in session with a busy fall agenda – in particular, is the urgency to pass fiscal year funding to keep the government running after September 30.

VA funding for FY 2023 was included in a mini omnibus (HR 8924) passed by the House in July. The Senate Appropriations Committee released the text of their bill in August. VA's budget for Medical Care for FY 2023 is $122.7 billion, and the FY 2024 Advance Appropriation is $132.1 billion.  As both sides continue to debate funding, it looks like negotiations on a continuing resolution (CR) are in play to fund the government until December.    

H.R. 1276, the VA Vaccine Act - enacted as part of the Save Lives Act, allows VA to provide COVID vaccines to caregivers, spouses, and others in the community.

H.R. 2441, Sgt. Ketchum Rural Veterans Mental Health Act establishes new Rural Access Network for Growth Enhancement (RANGE) programs through the VA and supports additional research on rural veteran mental health care needs.

H.R. 5575/S.3820, VA Nurse and Physician Assistant RAISE Act - enacted as part of the FY 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act moved Title 38 RNs to Level II and APRNs, PAs to Level I, and allows CRNAs to move above the Level I cap where they currently stand.

2022 Executive & Senior Level Employee Pay Tables

RAISE Act Frequently Asked Questions

H.R. 4794/S.2533, Making Advances in Mammography and Medical Options for Veterans Act provides updated mammogram and breast cancer treatment at VA.

H.R. 3967/S.3373, The Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2021(PACT Act), which contains WISE Act provisions. The historic legislation adds 23 toxic and burn pit exposure conditions to the VA's database, while expanding care for post-9/11 veterans who were exposed to burn pits. It also contains provisions (Title IX) that expands HR and looks to improve staffing vacancies by allowing some elimination of caps on bonuses, and other incentives within VA.

More details can be found here: FACT SHEET: PACT Act Delivers on President Biden’s Promise to America’s Veterans

Other bills of interest still awaiting action include:
 
HR 3693, the VA CPE Modernization Act, which would expand and increase tuition and course fees for all VA clinicians allowing nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and others to be eligible for educational benefits. If passed, it will provide full-time healthcare professionals to include RN, APRN, LVN/LPN to receive $2,000 annually for education expenses. 

A larger Veterans legislative package continues to be negotiated and more critical expiring authorities await debate before the final gavel falls on the 117th Congress.

Stay tuned to NOVA’s website and social media for updates on legislation and other items of interest that affect VA healthcare. 

Stay Tuned!

By Teresa Morris, NOVA Director, Advocacy & Government Relations

Greetings NOVA Members –

It is hard to believe that it is already July, and we are quickly moving towards the last weeks of the 117^th congressional session. It is a busy month as August recess approaches and the Midterm election looms. Deadlines for finalizing FY 2023 funding, legislative packages and important policy become urgent.

The VA Committees who have jurisdiction over Veterans policy continue to be focused on getting toxic exposure (PACT Act) and other critical legislation passed before the session ends. One item that looks to be stalled is the completion of the Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission that was tasked with reviewing and making recommendations to Congress and the President on modernizing and realigning VA’s aging healthcare system.

As background, the AIR Commission was included as part of the MISSION Act and mandated a review of VA’s healthcare infrastructure through market assessments and evaluating its footprint and ability to care for Veterans across the country. The final report was released in March and organized by Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN), the plan included closing three major hospitals and dozens of clinics, but also recommended building about eighty new clinics across the country.

VA Recommendations to the AIR Commission Home

Congress and veteran advocates immediately reacted to recommendations and to the knowledge that much of the report and its assessments were made prior to the pandemic. The Commission and its work seemed doomed before it began and as often happens any news of VA hospital closures in congressional districts raised the ire of many including Senators who said “they would not approve the nine nominees up for confirmation to establish the AIR Commission." So, any decision to shift services for a constituency as crucial as veterans seems DOA for now.

VA and others have said that although lawmakers have left the agency with no blueprint to modernize its aging system, they plan to continue to fight for the funding and modernization that veterans deserve.

NOVA provided its opinion on provisions included in the MISSION Act in 2018 and was wary of the AIR process. There is a need to look at infrastructure use and aging facilities, but Congress has not provided adequate funding for VA construction and maintenance needs for decades. NOVA supports the Independent Budget recommendations for these accounts. The Independent Budget Veterans Agenda

Some see AIR as another way to increase the number of Veterans using community for care which was expanded as part of MISSION. Veterans surveyed by the VFW overwhelming prefer care at a VA. (VFW-Our-Care-2017--Executive-Summary.pdf (azureedge.net). NOVA stands by our views that Veterans prefer VA healthcare and that treatment at a VA facility is far better suited to their individual health care needs and service-connected disabilities.

I ask all of you to continue to watch NOVA’s website and social media for our August Recess Priorities. Congress will be home working the entire month of August with most campaigning for reelection. Now is the perfect time to become familiar with VA nursing issues and to educate your members about what is important to you and how you do your job as a healthcare provider taking care of Veterans.

I also encourage you to review NOVA’s Legislative Priority Goals on the website under the Advocacy dropdown and help us continue our work on behalf of all VA nurses. Links to the toolkit can be found here: NOVA Advocacy Toolkit (vanurse.org)

Stay Tuned!