Bill would limit VA efforts to close hospitals

A House subcommittee has approved legislation that would place limits on when the Department of Veterans Affairs can close hospitals.

Under the Millennium Health Care Act, passed by the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Health Wednesday, only "obsolete or highly inefficient hospitals" can be considered for closure. Veterans groups will be allowed to participate in the decision-making process for closures, and savings from closures must be reinvested to improve veterans' access to health care in communities where hospitals are closed.

The bill also would require the VA to set up a long-term care program for aging veterans and beef up community-based and home long-term and respite care programs.

The American Federation of Government Employees has strongly criticized the lack of cost/benefit criteria in decisions about VA hospital closures. The union opposed provisions in previous versions of the legislation that would dismantle facilities and contract out health care services without assuring taxpayers and veterans that money would be saved and quality of care would improve.

As a result, the committee added language on cost-benefit criteria and allowed for employee representatives to participate in the development of closure plans, said Linda Bennett, an AFGE legislative representative.

"AFGE cannot support the dismantling of the veterans health care system," Bennett said, "but it is clear from changes in the bill that AFGE's grassroots efforts forced the subcommittee to change some of its provisions."

AFGE officials say they remain concerned that VA will not get adequate funding to implement all of the bill's provisions. "We're concerned that without an adequate budget, the promise of long-term care will be broken," Bennett said.