Sponsors (2)
The bill improves access and oversight for rural veterans by adding patient advocate coordinators and reporting, while relying on existing staff to speed implementation—at the cost of potential service inconsistency, additional administrative work, and limits on resolving individual recurring cases due to de-identification.
Veterans in rural and highly rural areas will have a dedicated patient advocate coordinator to help navigate and coordinate care received outside VA medical centers, improving access and continuity of care.
Federal employees and VA health systems can use existing VA staff to fill advocate roles, reducing the need for new hires and enabling faster implementation of the coordinator program.
Veterans and oversight bodies will benefit from annual de-identified reporting to VA committees and VISN directors, increasing transparency about common issues and resolution times and creating opportunities to improve service quality.
Veterans—especially in rural areas—may experience inconsistent service because advocates will be drawn from existing staff with varying workloads, training, and availability.
Hospitals, VA health systems, and federal employees will face added administrative burden from the reporting requirements, which could divert staff time away from direct patient care.
Veterans may have recurring individual problems that are harder to resolve because reports are de-identified, limiting VISNs' ability to track and address specific repeat issues for particular patients.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires VA medical centers to designate patient advocates for rural veterans receiving community care and to report annual de-identified advocate data to Congress and VISN directors.
Introduced March 26, 2025 by Kevin Cramer · Last progress March 26, 2025
Requires each VA medical center director to designate at least one patient advocate to coordinate and support care for veterans in rural and highly rural areas who receive care through community-based outpatient clinics or the community care network. Directs that advocates report within the medical center’s reporting line and that the VA annually provide de-identified Patient Advocate Tracking System data (common issues, resolution times, information request times, and compliments/complaints) to Congressional Veterans’ Affairs committees and each Veterans Integrated Service Network director.