The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday unanimously passed U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett’s Veterans Community Care Scheduling Improvement Act (H.R. 3482). Specifically, the bill would permanently implement the upgraded scheduling platform at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that allows VA employees to schedule both community care appointments and VA appointments on the same interface, helping more veterans access timely health care appointments in their own community.
This is Barrett’s sixth bill passed by the House of Representatives this Congress.
“The streamlined External Provider Scheduling interface at the VA is reducing wait times for veterans by allowing staff to easily find and book appointments both on site and at health care providers in their own communities,” said Barrett. “Passing my bill to make this system permanent is a commonsense solution that will continue alleviating the frustration our veterans feel every time they go to schedule an appointment. This improvement is long overdue and will give veterans the certainty they deserve for years to come.”
Earlier this year, the VA announced that it had fully implemented the new External Provider Scheduling (EPS) system, a single digital interface that enables VA staff to simultaneously view available appointments at VA facilities and participating community care providers — health care providers outside the VA. The Veterans Community Care Scheduling Improvement Act (H.R. 3482) would make this system permanent and continue reducing wait times for veterans.
Under the previous system, the process to book an appointment for a veteran could take days or weeks as a result of VA staffers only being able to book a handful of community care appointments each day. The EPS system enables all VA employees to book as many as 25 appointments per day. The system has existed for several years, but it was previously not deployed at most VA facilities.
Click here to read the bill.
