Veterans Community Care Scheduling Improvement Act
Introduced May 19, 2025 · Last action May 20, 2026
Plain English Summary
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to build an online scheduling system that allows VA employees to book appointments for veterans with private (non-VA) doctors through the Veterans Community Care Program, and to make it easier for private providers to participate. It also extends a deadline for certain pension payment limits from January 31, 2033 to May 31, 2033.
Who benefits
Veterans who use the Veterans Community Care Program (those who cannot obtain timely appointments or needed services at VA facilities) will gain easier access to schedule private doctor appointments; private healthcare providers participating in the Veterans Community Care Program will benefit from an automated referral and scheduling process that reduces administrative burden and may increase patient volume; rural and specialty care providers will gain streamlined access to veteran patients through VA recruitment efforts
Who pays / loses
The Department of Veterans Affairs will bear the cost of designing, building, implementing, and maintaining the electronic scheduling system, training staff, conducting provider outreach, and producing semiannual reports to Congress; VA medical center staff will incur time and resource costs for training and mandatory use of the new system; private healthcare providers will need to integrate their systems with the VA electronic process or adapt their scheduling practices to participate
Funding & Lobbying Interests
Private healthcare providers and healthcare networks participating in the Veterans Community Care Program have a financial interest in this bill—streamlined scheduling increases referrals and patient volume from the VA system. Rural health associations and state hospital associations (mentioned as outreach partners in the bill) represent providers who may see increased veteran patient flow. Specialty care providers in underserved areas are specifically targeted for recruitment. The VA itself has an institutional interest in reducing wait times and improving care coordination. No sponsor finance data was provided.
Sponsor
Sponsor information not available.
Vote Record
No recorded votes.
Campaign Finance — Primary Sponsor
No campaign finance data available yet.
501(c)(4) disclosure: Contributions from 501(c)(4) "dark money" organizations are not required to be publicly disclosed and are not reflected in the figures above. Data sourced from FEC public disclosure filings.
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