Sponsors (8)
Sharing veterans' opioid prescription histories with non‑VA clinicians and TPAs can improve medication safety and care coordination but creates meaningful privacy, cost, and potential access‑to‑treatment risks if data are mishandled or misused.
Veterans receiving care from non‑VA clinicians will have their VA opioid prescription history available to those clinicians, reducing dangerous opioid overlaps and improving medication safety.
Veterans receiving community care and the government’s claims process will see improved care coordination and claims processing when Third Party Administrators and non‑VA providers receive opioid history information.
Veterans' privacy is at greater risk because transmitting opioid prescription histories to non‑VA providers and TPAs increases exposure of sensitive health data if handling is inadequate.
Veterans may experience reduced or delayed access to needed pain treatment if receiving providers or TPAs misinterpret or over‑rely on opioid histories, leading to inappropriate withholding of opioids.
Implementing secure transmission and data‑sharing procedures will impose additional administrative and IT costs on the VA and receiving entities, increasing costs for taxpayers and healthcare systems.
Based on analysis of 1 section of legislative text.
Requires VA to transmit a covered veteran’s opioid prescription history to non-VA providers furnishing VA-authorized care and to Third Party Administrators.
Requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to include a transmission standard that sends a covered veteran’s opioid prescription history from VA records to (A) non‑Department health care providers who furnish care under VA-authority and (B) a Third Party Administrator. Also defines “Third Party Administrator” by reference to the existing definition in law. The change aims to improve information flow about opioid prescriptions for veterans when VA-coordinated care or third-party administration is involved, to support safer prescribing and care coordination.
Official title: To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to transmit a veteran's history of opioid prescriptions to a Community Care health care provider.
Introduced May 7, 2026 by Mike Collins · Last progress May 7, 2026