Sponsors (7)
The bill strengthens veterans' fall-prevention care—mandatory assessments, trained providers, research, and local outreach—to reduce injuries and long-term costs, but does so at the expense of new administrative structures, added staffing and implementation costs, and potential uneven access or delays if resources are insufficient.
Veterans across VA settings (nursing homes, extended care, and other VA programs) will receive required falls risk assessments and coordinated prevention services, reducing fall incidence, injuries, and related hospitalizations.
Veterans in VA long-term care and extended-care programs will get services from licensed physical and occupational therapists, improving care quality and functional outcomes.
VA providers and facilities will be required to follow VHA directives and receive training in safe patient handling and mobility, increasing provider competence and reducing in-facility falls and injuries.
Taxpayers and veterans risk having funds diverted from direct clinical care to establish and staff a new central office and related administrative functions.
VA facilities may face higher ongoing staffing and operational costs to ensure licensed PT/OT coverage, potentially shifting resources away from other services or increasing budget pressure.
If the VA cannot recruit sufficient licensed PTs/OTs, veterans may experience delays in required assessments and services, undermining the bill's intended benefits.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a VA Office of Falls Prevention, funds education and research, and requires PT/OT fall-risk assessments and prevention services in VA nursing homes and extended care.
Introduced May 5, 2025 by Nikki Budzinski · Last progress May 5, 2025
Creates a central Office of Falls Prevention within the Veterans Health Administration to coordinate fall-prevention standards, education, research, grants, and home-modification efforts for veterans. It requires licensed physical or occupational therapists to perform falls risk assessments and provide fall-prevention services for certain veterans in VA nursing homes and as an annual extended care service. The measure directs the VA to staff and support the new office, run a national education campaign for at-risk veterans and their caregivers, fund local education efforts by grant or contract, and work with VA research partners and the National Institute on Aging to develop evidence-based falls-prevention research focused on veterans with multiple health conditions and service-connected disabilities. It also sets a September 30, 2028 termination date for an existing statutory subsection and adds the new therapist assessment requirements into VA nursing home and extended care services.