In an April 28 comment letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the AAMC stated its support for the recent draft criteria proposed by the VA “for making decisions on health care improvement as required by Section 203 of the MISSION Act” (P.L. 115-182).
In the comment letter, the AAMC stated that it “believes these criteria will increase health equity, enhance Veterans’ experiences, and enable the VA to effectively provide high quality coordinated health care.”
On Feb. 2, the VA published a notice of intent and request for comments about these criteria, with comments being due on May 1. “The six criteria proposed in this rulemaking for the evaluation of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) realignment and modernization opportunities … include Veterans’ need for care and services, accessibility of care for Veterans, impact on mission, providing highest quality whole healthcare, effective use of resources for Veteran care, and ensuring a safe environment of care.”
Once finalized, the criteria will be used to make recommendations “for the modernization and realignment of VHA facilities and to improve Veteran access to high-quality health care across the country.”