I did include in the veterans appropriations bill an additional $10 million for VA to hire more caregiver support coordinators.

I have certainly heard from veterans how difficult it can be to deal with this new reality.

Cost cannot be an excuse to deny essential care to seriously injured veterans. Not when they have put everything on the line to protect our country.

I really believe that the VA can address those concerns and strengthen the program while also finally opening up the program to veterans of all eras.

I am grateful to Senator Patty Murray for sponsoring S. 469 to improve the reproductive assistance provided by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

This program recognizes the sacrifice of the friends and family who take care of our injured servicemembers by offering assistance to ease their burden.

From my position, whether it is IVF care or whether it is caregivers program, when someone serves us in this country overseas and is injured as a result, our country should step up.

How important is it to veterans' health and quality-of-life to spend less time in the hospital and more time at home?

We commend Senator Murray for her continued leadership in ensuring that comprehensive health care services are available to women veterans and their families.

I rise today to speak about a constituent of mine. Ilse is a 23-year-old graduate of the University of Washington who works at the Seattle Children's Hospital and is studying to become a nurse. She has faced a lot of challenges in her 23…

I'm open to a conversation on refocusing accreditors' role, but that should never come at the expense of foregoing the enforcement of important Federal protections like student safety on campus or ensuring a college is financially sound.

Well, thank you very much, Chairman Alexander.

I'm out of time, so I'm sorry to cut you off. I do have additional questions I'll submit for the record, and I really appreciate the accommodation.

We need to make sure the system is worthy of that trust.

We need stronger protections to prevent conflicts of interest.

It seems clear that quality assurance needs some kind of improvement.

I'm especially pleased that this is a shared, bipartisan priority.

I'm really glad that we're making this a bipartisan priority on this committee and doing the work that I think is so important to get us to a better place.

the Federal Government should be enabled to enhance its enforcement tools to ensure functional data and transport standards.

Well, in order to make sure that patients and clinicians have better access to electronic health information, we need to make sure that no one is deliberately blocking it.

I'm hopeful that we can reach some bipartisan agreements on this really critical topic.

We need policies that continue to make healthcare more affordable, not less; expand coverage to more families instead of taking coverage away; and improve the quality of care patients receive.

I just want to recognize that wholesale delay of Meaningful Use Stage 3 should be very thoughtfully considered in light of the items that we would impact, give up, that I know we all support.

Our hearing today is focused on health IT because of its potential to improve the quality and value of healthcare for our patients.

I'm very hopeful we will be able to reach an agreement on some ways to strengthen health IT in our country.