{"id":21360,"date":"2024-01-19T11:31:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T16:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&#038;p=21360"},"modified":"2024-01-19T15:24:25","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T20:24:25","slug":"sen-ossoff-launches-bipartisan-inquiry-into-va-community-care-wait-times","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-launches-bipartisan-inquiry-into-va-community-care-wait-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Ossoff Launches Bipartisan Inquiry into VA Community Care Wait Times\u202f"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Washington, D.C.<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is pressing the VA to reduce wait times for community care appointments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, Sens. Ossoff and Rick Scott (R-FL) launched a bipartisan inquiry into delays veterans are facing between referral dates and scheduled medical appointment at VA community care locations in Georgia and nationwide.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sens. Ossoff and Scott are joined by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Ted Budd (R-NC), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe receive frequent communications from our veteran constituents regarding lengthy wait times in both scheduling and receiving health care through community care providers,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Sens. Ossoff, Scott, and the group wrote to VA Secretary McDonough.<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cEligible veterans have earned timely, quality health care; These delays must be urgently addressed.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sens. Ossoff, Scott, and the group are urging the VA to fully implement U.S. Government Accountability Office\u2019s (GAO) recommendations to improve program timeliness and efficiency.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 2018, multiple GAO reports have recommended that VA ensure timely veteran medical care by establishing and analyzing feasible, discrete time standards. Of the six relevant GAO recommendations, VA has only fully implemented two. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff continues to advocate on behalf of Georgia\u2019s veterans and their families.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In December, Sens. Ossoff and Kevin Cramer (R-ND)\u2019s bipartisan&nbsp;<em>Military Families Mental Health Services Act&nbsp;<\/em>to help more military families access vital mental health care services became&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoffs-bipartisan-bill-to-expand-access-to-counseling-mental-health-services-for-military-families-signed-into-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">law<\/a>&nbsp;as part of this year\u2019s&nbsp;<em>National Defense Authorization Act<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In October, Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/23.10.04_Letter-on-BVA-Wait-Times-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">launched an inquiry<\/a>&nbsp;with the VA into excessive delays with the VA Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA), which decides whether or not veterans are entitled to claimed veterans\u2019 benefits and services.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also in October, Sens. Ossoff and Mike Braun (R-IN)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sens-ossoff-braun-launch-follow-up-inquiry-to-ensure-veterans-can-access-service-benefits-theyve-earned\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">led<\/a>&nbsp;a bipartisan coalition of 20 Senators in a follow-up inquiry to the National Archives of the United States (NARA) into the backlog of veterans\u2019 record requests, requesting updated information on the status of reducing the backlog of record requests.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Click&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/24.01.17_VA-Community-Care-Wait-Time-Letter.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">aqu\u00ed<\/a>&nbsp;to read Sens. Ossoff and Scott\u2019s bipartisan inquiry to the VA.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"># # #&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C.&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is pressing the VA to reduce wait times for community care appointments.&nbsp; Today, Sens. Ossoff and Rick Scott (R-FL) launched a bipartisan inquiry into delays veterans are facing between referral dates and scheduled medical appointment at VA community care locations in Georgia and nationwide.&nbsp; Sens. Ossoff and Scott are joined [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21360","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/21360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/21360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21368,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/21360\/revisions\/21368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}