In Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing, Rep. Susie Lee Examines Status of Department of Veterans Affairs Infrastructure in Southern Nevada
WASHINGTON – In today's hearing for the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies, U.S. Rep. Susie Lee (Nev.-03) examined the status of the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) infrastructure.
Rep. Lee asked the Executive Director of the Office of Asset Enterprise Management, Mr. Brett Simms, about the status of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) market assessments:
Rep. Lee - "I spoke to the Southern Nevada Healthcare System a week ago and we talked about the rapid veteran population growth here in our region. As you know, in 2012, a new VA hospital was built in North Las Vegas – great facility, has really provided incredible care to so many veterans in our community and our growing veteran population – and as a matter of fact, close to 10 years later, our region's veteran population has been growing at an average rate of about 4% per year, and therefore we're looking at potentially a need for another facility in the near future. In fact, if you look at the projections that were used when this facility was built in 2012, compared to what's happening, we are currently outpacing those projections from 5-7 years [ago].
"You did mention that there was a market assessment happening that was delayed due to COVID-19, and the public comment period will possibly happen in late spring/early summer. Mr. Simms, I just wanted to ask you, is the VA on track to complete all the market assessments prior to the calendar year 2022 when the asset and infrastructure review commission is set to review them?"
Mr. Simms - "Yes. The precursor to that of completing the market assessments on the market levels of the more regionalized assessments will then roll up into the national plan with the overlay of how you, for example, may leverage telehealth to deliver care from one market to another market that may not have some of those healthcare resources. So that's that overlay of the national level that will be the processed next step, but the goal is yes, we will have all of that in place. We have published in the federal register the criteria on how recommendations will be evaluated and put forward to that commission. It is out there for public comment right now, so we are tracking against the dates and the requirements in the public at this point."
Rep. Lee - "From the establishment of need, what is the timeframe that you could project from establishment of need to building of a facility?"
Mr. Simms - "It depends on the size of a facility, and the answer for the larger facilities is too long. Las Vegas is an example of that: it's a facility that's not that old, projections are projections, so there's always going to be a level of risk and variability and what actually happens in some of those cases. But the longer you take to bring it to fruition, the harder it is to ensure that you're meeting what you can. Las Vegas is also a great example of a facility that's relatively new, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't need investment. So, while we look at the broader recapitalization of all our facilities, it doesn't mean that there isn't a need in other areas. We've got to keep that in the forefront too, so that it's not just a focus on those older facilities."
Rep. Lee also asked about how the lessons learned in the pandemic could be applied to the VHA infrastructure portfolio:
Rep. Lee - "You mentioned that you learned lessons from the pandemic that needed to be applied to the infrastructure portfolio. Can you tell us, what are some of those top lessons?"
Mr. Simms - "One of them happens to do with the long-term care…what we learned is that, in some of our older facilities, we didn't have the ability to actually isolate and raise the acuity level of those beds very easily. So that's one of the examples of a lesson learned. I think patient flow in the emergency departments is one example of that, but patient flow – being able to maintain the right social distancing, and getting into the care – isn't always set up the best in some of the facilities. Another example would be the privacy of our inpatient rooms, which we've been working on for a while, making sure that we've got single occupancy rooms for our inpatient med-surg, but then you throw in complicating factors around the air control – so the handling of the air and the negative air pressure – those are areas that I think we had facilities that weathered better than others, and we're trying to take those lessons and build them back into the standards by which future facilities would be constructed."
Rep. Lee has continued to fight for relief and resources for veterans throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The most recent relief package proposal, the American Rescue Plan, includes an additional $17 billion for veterans' programs to address health and employment challenges related to COVID-19.
In September 2020, Rep. Lee's bill, the VA Telehealth Expansion Act, was signed into law as a provision of the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act, to improve and expand VA telehealth services for veterans.