Annie Kuster: “I thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Roe) for their support of this…”

“I thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz) and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Roe) for their support of this bill. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to speak on my bill, H.R. 1545, the VA Prescription Accountability Act. This bill demonstrates the power of bipartisanship in this Congress, especially on the House VA Committee. I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Wenstrup) for his willingness to co-lead this bill with me, and also the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bergman) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Brownley) for cosponsoring this commonsense legislation. This bill is common sense because it improves upon the Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs, also known as PDMPs across this country. PDMPs are proven resources in combating our Nation's opioid epidemic. PDMPs improve the public health and our general well-being. In 2012, the VA was finally authorized to connect its patient population to State PDMPs. But, unfortunately, an issue with the VA's antiquated computer systems meant that literally hundreds of thousands of nonveteran patients at the VA were left excluded from the data reported to PDMPs by the VA. As the ranking member of the House Veterans' Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, I am all too familiar with the continued issues with computer systems across the entirety of the VA. This issue underscores the need for the VA and this Congress to ensure effective and rapid reform to the VA's computer systems.…”