Oversight: Beyond the City Limits: Delivering for Rural Veterans
House Subcommittee on Technology Modernization
2025-07-25
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Source: Congress.gov
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All right, good morning everyone. How are you? Well, thank you so much and thank you for the opportunity to join you today. The subcommittee on technology modernization will come to order. I want to start by thanking our ranking member and the host today in your district, ranking member Budzinski, for welcoming us to Illinois' 13th district. I appreciate the hospitality and the welcome and everyone and really just the warmth that I can feel for how you care for veterans and how you've welcomed us in the committee here today. And I really deeply appreciate all of that. I'd also like to thank the University of Illinois and the CHES Veterans Center for hosting us and for all of the staff of the university that helped make this hearing possible. I know many of you went out of your way. to put this together. And Colonel, I appreciate your willingness to help pull this together and everything that you did. Even though you were voluntold, I appreciate your willingness to step up and do that. And I appreciated our conversation earlier, really about that transition from military back into civilian life and what the challenges that some of our veterans face, whether they're on campus or not, and how we can do a better job of really making that transition easier for our veterans. I also want to thank Garrett Anderson, who's here. Where's Garrett? Very good. Garrett, thank you so much for taking me on the tour this morning. Really appreciate all of your very, very clear commitment to veterans and making sure that they are welcomed home and treated with the dignity that they need and really transitioned as effectively as possible. So I can tell that you take a great deal of pride in that, and we appreciate your work in that regard. So thank you. The mission of the Technology Modernization Subcommittee is to make sure that VA is buying, using, and developing the right information technology in order to deliver the best care and services for our veterans. And that's the task that we have on this subcommittee, and it plays into why we are here today. Technology plays a huge role in delivering VA care to rural veterans because VA simply cannot give veterans all the care and services they need at traditional brick and mortar facilities that are often too far for veterans to reach or might not be as convenient to them because of their limitations for travel.
This topic is also personal to me. I served 22 years in the United States Army, and I'm now building a family in a rural part of Michigan myself. I also represent Michigan State University in my district, so I do have to say a go green while I'm here. I know firsthand the frustration that veterans feel when the care they've earned is out of reach simply because of where they live. I actually do not have a VA hospital facility in the district that I represent, so the 800,000 or so residents of my district and the veterans there have to travel outside of my congressional district if they go to a VA hospital. That's what today is about, making sure rural veterans aren't left behind. The reality is veterans in rural communities face serious barriers to accessing VA care. Nearly one third of VA enrolled veterans live in rural communities. They drive longer distances, they wait longer for appointments, have fewer providers to choose from, and deal with limited broadband and transportation options. However, each community is different and rural veterans do not all have the same experience with the VA. So I'm glad the ranking member and I were able to take our subcommittee on the road and talk to you all where you live and learn about the specific challenges that you face. In Washington, we hear a lot of experiences from people, but I think we all benefit from going directly to the source for where things are happening. And that's a good reason why we're here today. One of the most important tools that exist for rural veterans is the community care program. Community care allows veterans, especially those in rural and underserved areas to see outside providers when brick and mortar VA facilities can't meet their needs. Community care is VA care and millions of veterans rely on it every single year. Having used community care personally, I know there is room for improvement. I want to ensure every veteran watching this hearing knows that they only need to meet one of the several criteria to qualify for community care. One is if the VA does not offer the service that is needed. Another is if the VA facility is not in the area in which they are located, if the VA cannot schedule an appointment quickly enough or close enough to them, or if community care is in the veteran's best medical interest.
Under the leadership of Chairman Mike Boss, chairman of this committee, whose district is not too far south of here, this committee is working hard to ensure that rural veterans are able to make their own choice on whether community care is the right option for them if they are eligible. In addition to community care, VA has many other resources that are important for rural veterans, including telehealth, mobile medical units, and much more that we will hear about today. Technology has a big role to play here, and that is where this subcommittee comes in. There are a lot of exciting opportunities for technology to drive better VA care and services in rural communities. A great example is the external provider scheduling system, which allows VA staff to see real-time appointment availability and book directly with community providers or within the VA system, depending on which is available first and closer to home.
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