Honor Our Promise to Veterans Act of 2025
Sponsored By: Senator Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT]
Introduced
Summary
Expands and enforces VA health care access and oversight across scheduling, community‑care provider standards, workforce pipelines, and capital planning. It sets firm wait‑time targets, mandatory training and screening for community providers, new hiring and scholarship programs, and detailed capital and project reporting.
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- Veterans and patients: Tightens access rules so nonurgent VA appointments are scheduled within 7 days and urgent care within 48 hours when care is needed or requested. VA must publish weekly wait times by care type and provide quarterly trend briefings to Congress.
- Community providers and third‑party administrators: Requires mandatory provider training within 1 year, automated monthly screening against exclusion lists, an 'MST Aware' rating with weekly public lists, and claim filing within 1 year or a ban on billing patients. The VA Inspector General may audit contracted providers and TPAs may face suspension or termination for fraud or serious quality issues.
- VA workforce and infrastructure: Raises some incentive pay, funds scholarships and licensing exam costs, mandates staffing models with five‑year reevaluations, and creates multi‑year capital planning and reporting obligations through project pipelines into FY2037.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
10 provisions identified: 7 benefits, 0 costs, 3 mixed.
1151 compensation for contracted care
If enacted, veterans would be able to get VA 1151 compensation for disability or death caused by non-VA providers when the proximate cause was provider fault or an unforeseeable event. Any civil judgment against the non-VA provider would be offset by the amount of VA compensation awarded.
Big VA construction and planning boost
If enacted, the bill would authorize large, multi-year VA construction and extended care grant amounts for FY2026–FY2037 with yearly dollar limits in statute. VA would name a senior capital lead, set staffing models, build a capital dashboard, and produce regular detailed project reports. The VA must also report on long-term care facility needs and submit a resilience review of mission-critical assets by state.
Dialysis care review and penalties
If enacted, the VA Inspector General would review dialysis care at VA and contracted providers and report within 18 months. The review must look at capacity, safety, billing practices, and legal compliance. VA would have to fix contract or legal violations immediately and face financial penalties until problems are resolved after a follow-up review.
Faster appointments and telehealth
If enacted, VA would have to schedule non-urgent care within 7 days after a clinician says you need care or you ask. Urgent care would have to be completed within 48 hours. Telehealth counts as an available appointment if you accept it or if it is the only option. VA would have to give you current wait and drive times for VA in-person care, VA telehealth, the nearest non-VA in-person provider, and non-VA telehealth, and update the public Access to Care website at least weekly.
More authority for physician assistants
If enacted, the VA would write rules to let physician assistants and other qualified VA clinicians practice to the full extent of their training. Rules could still limit controlled-substance prescribing where federal or state law bars it. The Secretary must issue these regulations within one year.
Faster VA hiring and staffing rules
If enacted, VA would use standardized nationwide hiring steps with set time windows and automatic approval if a step is over five business days late. VA must make staffing models for each VHA service and reevaluate them every five years. The bill also requires electronic signatures for hiring documents, delegation when approvers are absent, broader job postings to list all equivalent clinician types, more frequent public staffing data, and leadership mentorship and employee community programs.
Higher pay, scholarships, and exam help
If enacted, pharmacist executive incentive pay could rise from a $40,000 cap to $100,000 and certain bonuses would not count against that cap. The VA would reimburse eligible clinicians up to $1,000 per year for continuing education. The VA would pay licensing and certification exam costs for current VA health professional scholarship recipients. The bill also creates a 10-year scholarship program to train and hire infrastructure trades and requires treating psychologists as Title 38 practitioners. VA police would be treated as law enforcement for retirement purposes with election options for incumbents.
Stronger checks on community care
If enacted, the VA would tighten oversight of community care. Non-VA providers would have to complete required training and submit quality data within one year or face removal from the program. TPAs would publish weekly lists showing which providers submitted data and which are high-performing. Providers who fail timely filing rules could not bill patients for late claims, and VA could suspend providers suspected of fraud. The VA OIG would have authority to audit and do unannounced visits to community providers.
One-year implementation deadline
If enacted, the VA Secretary would have one year from enactment to implement this Act and its amendments unless the Act sets a different deadline. Many provisions still set shorter specific deadlines.
Review of emergency care payment rules
If enacted, the VA would hire an independent reviewer to study how VA reimburses emergency treatment and emergency transport and report within one year. The VA would also produce a tele-emergency care feasibility report within 180 days covering timelines, staffing, costs, and any needed legislation. The reviews must include stakeholder input and be publicly reported.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT]
CT • D
Cosponsors
Sen. Alsobrooks, Angela D. [D-MD]
MD • D
Sponsored 12/11/2025
Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME]
ME • I
Sponsored 12/11/2025
Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL]
IL • D
Sponsored 12/11/2025
Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI]
HI • D
Sponsored 12/11/2025
Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT]
VT • I
Sponsored 12/11/2025
Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA]
WA • D
Sponsored 12/11/2025
Sen. Cortez Masto, Catherine [D-NV]
NV • D
Sponsored 12/11/2025
Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH]
NH • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]
RI • D
Sponsored 12/16/2025
Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI]
WI • D
Sponsored 12/17/2025
Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR]
OR • D
Sponsored 1/27/2026
Sen. Schiff, Adam B. [D-CA]
CA • D
Sponsored 2/24/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov