One of my goals, as a Senator, is for government to be open and accessible to the constituents of my State and the Nation.

Senator Hagan say those kind words in my name.

we must ensure that we're getting three key things in return: timely access; quality care; and a fair price...

I have been contacted by a urologist in North Carolina who is now refusing to see any new VA patients.

Of course contract care should never be used to supplant the VA health care system.

I appreciate that because I think it is an important component.

What has been suggested is a model of collaboration versus a VA attempt to take all of the health care professionals in mental health and bring them under the VA's ownership.

Mr. Chairman, I thank you and I apologize to our witnesses for my tardiness.

I'm interested to see what quality and cost mechanisms are in place for fee-based care as well.

Therefore, establishing relationships with community providers is essential.

I welcome this discussion. I've heard from many North Carolinians who live in rural communities...

Using local community providers can save rural veterans from long, tiresome trips.

But there is no requirement on any fee-based service to provide the medical records to the VA, am I correct?

we believe it is a very high priority and it will fix so many of the small things that we talk about

I hope if you, as chair of the Advisory Committee, see it as a high priority task, then I want to understand up front

I think we all agree that the VA rating schedule is probably the cornerstone of the entire disability compensation system.

But to dig just a little bit deeper, are you at odds with the VA relative to the conclusion you have come to that there exists enough data to proceed with review and update, or is there less light in between the two of you than I interpret?

The Chairman has been incredibly accommodating to me this morning. You stated that you felt that updating the ratings schedule was a very high priority task. Do you believe that the VA agrees with that being a very high priority task?