David Shulkin

I agree with Ranking Member Kuster that the wait time crisis in 2014 was in part caused by an archaic scheduling system that is almost impossible to figure out.

Right. I completely agree with you, Congressman. When I was running hospitals prior to taking this position, I was participating in functional HIEs. So VA wants to be part of these regional HIEs.

the country should be proud that we developed this system.

it's going to be a major advance.

Ensuring appropriate coordination and communication between the VHA and OI&T is vital to moving the VA health care system toward the 21st century.

We are working hard to repair all the damage that happened up there.

We need these legislative fixes to fix the program once and for all.

Having the providers in place is hugely important.

We want to bring back the customer service piece.

I think you are accurate. The ARCH program predated Choice. It has worked extremely well.

The problem is our reputation has been hurt incredibly.

Our numbers are going down while the rest of the country is going up.

I have personally used them, and people go from being essentially unconscious to waking up and talking to you in a matter of seconds.

Anything that we can do to help eliminate barriers to the use of these drugs I think would be important.

I respect the important role that Congress has in ensuring veterans receive quality healthcare and benefits that they rightly deserve.

I am going to need to work with counsel and the OI&T on that.

my expectation is, the Secretary's expectation, is that we are going to take actions to remove people who are not following the VA values.

We should be able to get the care where they are.

it would not be acceptable because of bureaucracy and red tape to allow a person who we know is not sharing our values to continue with a direct veteran-facing position.

Yes, Senator. In fact, we have committed to having a team out to Montana.

We need these provider agreements. Right now, we have providers around the country who are refusing to do business with us...

The problem is our reputation has been hurt incredibly, and you are hearing it from the veterans because the Choice program has not worked.

We need to be trying harder.

Do we need to look at new ways to be able to make sure these are safer places? Absolutely we need to.

I secured a provision requiring the VA and the Department of Defense (DOD) to share information about when and how servicemembers may have been exposed to airborne hazards and open burn pits.