Improving Veteran Access to Care Act
Sponsored By: Senator Hassan, Margaret Wood [D-NH]
Passed Senate
Summary
Creates a deadline-driven plan to fix VA appointment scheduling. The Act requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit within 1 year a plan to deliver a unified scheduling system, self-service booking, telephonic schedulers, and a timeline to fully implement the plan within 2 years after submission.
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- Veterans and families: Gives veterans the ability to view available VA appointments across primary care, mental health, and specialty care, fully book approved referrals, and cancel or reschedule appointments online or by phone.
- VA schedulers and staff: Requires employee-facing IT upgrades, training, and process improvements so schedulers can view availability and complete bookings on behalf of patients.
- Oversight and rollout: The Secretary must report to the Senate and House Veterans' Affairs Committees 1 year and 2 years after the plan is submitted with costs incurred, expected costs to finish, deployment schedules, and metrics and lessons learned.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
1 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Faster VA appointment scheduling for veterans
If enacted, the VA would have to submit a plan within 1 year to improve and speed up appointment scheduling. The plan would build tools so patients and staff can see openings and fully book primary, mental health, and specialty care online. It would let patients request referrals, cancel or reschedule visits, and use a phone line where a scheduler can fully book appointments. The plan would keep non‑online options, so veterans could still schedule directly by phone or in person. VA would coordinate with its electronic health record rollout, report progress and costs 1 and 2 years after sending the plan, and finish implementation within 2 years after sending it.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Hassan, Margaret Wood [D-NH]
NH • D
Cosponsors
John Boozman
AR • R
Sponsored 2/18/2025
Sen. Moran, Jerry [R-KS]
KS • R
Sponsored 12/2/2025
Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT]
CT • D
Sponsored 12/2/2025
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov