Sponsor
Jon Husted
Senator · R-OH
Senator · R-OH
The bill expands temporary contracting authority to increase veterans' access to timely disability exams and provide flexible staffing, while adding reporting requirements — trading potential improvements in access and program transparency against higher contractor spending and risks to care continuity and permanent VA hiring.
Veterans will have increased access to timely medical disability examinations because more types of licensed health professionals can perform exams under temporary VA contracts.
Health care professionals who meet VA appointment eligibility and licensure requirements can take contract roles with the VA, creating more job opportunities and flexible staffing for VA care delivery.
The bill requires a detailed report on use, costs, timeliness, legal adequacy, and erroneous uses of the contracting authority, improving program oversight, transparency, and potential quality control.
Using contract clinicians instead of hiring VA employees may reduce continuity of care for some veterans and could shift attention and resources away from recruiting permanent VA clinicians.
Expanding authority to hire outside contractors could increase VA spending on contractors, potentially raising costs for taxpayers if in-house capacity is underused.
Extending temporary contracting authority to a fixed date (through 2031) may delay development of long-term solutions and reduce incentives to hire permanent VA staff.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Broadens and clarifies temporary licensure for contract health care professionals performing VA medical disability exams, extends the sunset to Sept 30, 2031, and requires a detailed VA report within 15 months.
Official title: Amend the Veterans' Benefits Improvements Act of 1996 and the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020 to improve the temporary licensure requirements for contract health care professionals who perform medical disability examinations for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 27, 2026 by Jon Husted · Last progress January 27, 2026
Expands temporary licensure authority so more contract health care professionals can perform VA medical disability examinations for veterans, replaces a short list of provider types with a broader “health care professionals” term, and sets an explicit sunset date of September 30, 2031. It also requires the VA Secretary to report to congressional veterans’ committees within 15 months on one year of post-enactment use of the authority, including counts of exams, timeliness, costs, state-by-state use, and corrective plans for any erroneous uses.