The President has proposed a $168.8 billion budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in FY 2016 www.va.gov/budget/products.asp. The VA has a medical care budget of $63.2 billion that serves 9.4 million veterans enrolled to receive care.
Major spending categories within the FY 2016 budget request for healthcare are $7.5 billion for mental health, $2.8 billion for prosthetics, $556 million for spinal cord injuries, $232 million for traumatic brain injuries, $243 million for readjustment counseling, and $7.5 billion for long term care.
Several programs will expand under the proposed budget such as:
- $1.2 billion in telehealth funding which is up from $126 million in 2015
- $446 million for healthcare services specially designed for women
- $598 million for new and enhanced healthcare facilities
- $1.1 billion for major construction projects
- $86.6 million for improved customer service applications for online self-service portals and call center agent-assisted inquiries
- $4.1 billion to modernize the VA’s EHRs and to improve veterans’ access to benefits and IT infrastructure
- $183 million for VistA Evolution
- $30 million for interoperability
- $7.5 million for veterans’ long-term care
- $690 million to treat hepatitis C
The President’s budget provides for the full implementation of the Veterans Benefits Administration’s (VBA) www.benefits.va.gov/benefits “Transformation Plan” to systematically improve the quality and efficiency of claims processing and assist the Department in processing all disability compensation claims within 125 days.
The major claims transformation initiatives included in the proposed budget will invest $431 million to bring leading-edge technology to claims processing. The figures given in the budget request are $290 million ($253 million in information technology and $37 million in VBA) to support the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS), plus $141 million for the Veterans Claims Intake Program (VCIP) to continue the conversion of paper records into electronic images and data into (VBMS).
The FY 2016 proposed budget also includes $622 million for development of innovative and cutting edge medical research. For example, funding will be provided to continue the “Million Veteran Program” which is a genomic medicine program where the VA works to collect genetic samples and general health information from one million veterans in the next five years.
The budget request includes funding for a new strategic initiative toward building a learning healthcare system responsive to new information and will help to develop effective clinical practices. In addition to direct appropriations, medical research would be supported through an additional $1.2 billion from VA’s medical care program and grants.
In addition the “Veterans, Access. Choice and Accountability Act of 2014” or referred to as the “Choice Act” would provide $5 billion in mandatory funding to increase veterans’ access to healthcare by hiring more physicians and staff plus help improve the VA’s physical infrastructure. The legislation would improve access to telemedicine and other healthcare services through standardization and greater use of mobile veteran and mobile medical centers.
The legislation would also provide $10 billion in mandatory funding through 2017 to establish a temporary program at the VA called the “Veterans Choice Program” www.va.gov/opa/choiceact This program would improve veterans’ access to healthcare by allowing eligible veterans who meet certain wait-time or distance standards to use eligible healthcare providers outside of the VA system.