Jay Rockefeller: “Congress transformed the landscape of health care delivery for veterans with the Veterans' Health Care Eligibility…”

“Congress transformed the landscape of health care delivery for veterans with the Veterans' Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996. This law eliminated barriers to outpatient care and encouraged the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA, to offer health care services to veterans in the most clinically appropriate setting. VA responded by shifting its emphasis from hospital-based treatment to outpatient care, and in just a few years has opened more than 250 new community-based outpatient clinics. I am enormously pleased that VA has opened community clinics in West Virginia and throughout the country. It is critical to bring health care services closer to veterans, especially as our veterans population continues to age. But it is not sufficient merely to increase the accessibility of care, we must also ensure that veterans receive the highest quality of care possible. Just as I fought to secure outpatient clinics for veterans, I will fight to ensure that these clinics are the very best that they can be.”