unfortunately, veterans do not have that control and will not under the current va health care system. va needs to have a 2015 health care system. we believe the veterans independence act is a road map and solution to do just that. this road map was developed by the fixing the veterans health care task force co-chaired by dr. bill frist, jim marshall, and dr. mike kussman, former vha under secretary. we developed ten veteran centric core principles that serve as the guiding foundation. they included the veteran must come first, not the va. veterans should be able to choose where to get their health care, refocus on prioritizing veterans with specialized needs. grandfather current enrollees and vha needs accountability. to implement these principles we laid out three major categories of reform and nine policy recommendations. first, restructure the vha as an independent government chartered nonprofit corporation. empowered to make decisions of personnel, i.t., facilities, partnerships and other priorities. second, give veterans the option to seek private health care coverage with the v

system. namely usa jobs that va uses for hiring staff. vha is facing a shortage of corporate experience and insufficient hr staffing to support the multiple priorities required for hiring health care professionals. the complex hiring process with systems that do not interface offers. as times this results in candidates accepting non va jobs and puts va back in hunt for qualified candidates. resulting in unnecessary recruitment delays contribute to delays in hiring personnel. reclassification and downgrades of some occupations, such as surgical technicians, who are brought in and recently downgraded to gs-5 are making it impossible to competitively retain and recruit. a lack of knowledge on how to maximize the law has resulted in inconsistent application of the law, an obstacle to hiring and retention. nova asks it be increased in order to remain competitive. ensuring an infrastructure to sustain programs that produce nursing graduates who honor and respect the programs is vital. the office of veteran affairs has limited funds. impacting th

i know staffing issues facing ventura can county are ones that can be found across the va system. i look forward to hearing how the va is using the funding to increase the department's workforce and high demand occupations so that the nation's veterans have timely access to the high quality professional care that the va is known for. thank you, mr. chairman, and i yield back the balance of my time. >> thank you. joining on our first panel is joan clifford, immediate past present of the nurses organization of veteran affairs. dr. samuel spagnola. the president of veteran affairs physician assistant association. jeff morris, the director of communications and external affairs for the american board of physician specialties. and dr. nicol salvo from the american podiatric medical association. miss clifford. we allow everybody five minutes. so should be a little light there when it goes red. that means you're up. thanks. >> hi. thank you. chairman, ranking member, and members of the sub committee, on behalf of the nearly 3,000 members of the nurses organization of veteran affairs, i wo

if you do have medics in the va system or returning and coming to work at the va get their pa school paid for and continue to work within the system. that would be the ideal pathway to do. to set aside there is education debt reduction programs to have pas come and work in the system. however, the funding is at a local level. it's not nationally mandated. if you ask at the local level they may see funds are not available. >> and so i'd be very interested in looking into bipartisan legislation to bring the pas in line with both the debt reduction and the scholarship programming to -- and i love the idea of our returning vets, i know we've talked about a lining their abilities and making sure that they have a path to successful employment in the private sector. and then just briefly, my time is almost up but i did want to just mention, i'm also interested in the mandated surveys to include pas in the mandated salary surveys in the community so that we -- better align the compensation for pas. but i think you know, we should do what we can to make sure that doctors are working at their h

chairman while far too soon to settle on how to reform the va health care system and integrate non-va care we can at least outline a framework to rebuild, restructure realign and reforming the va health care system. first rebuild and sustain the its capacity by recruiting hiring and retaining sufficient clinical staff and by funding a long-term strategy to repair and maintain va facilities. second restructure the many non-va care programs into a single integrated extended care network which incorporates the best features of fee-based pc3 and other purchase care programs and provide this program with a separate and guaranteed funding source. third realign and expand the e-health there are to meet the diverse needs of future generations of veterans including women veterans. this should include networking care nationwide with extended operating hours. fourth a foreign va management by redesigning its performance and accountability report in restructuring its budget process by implementing a system which stands for planning programming budget and execution. mr. chairman this framework is

if you do have medics in the va system or returning and coming to work at the va, get their pa school paid for and continue to work within the system. that would be the ideal pathway to do. to set aside, there is education debt reduction programs to have pas come and work in the system. however, the funding is at a local level. it's not nationally mandated. if you ask at the local level they may say funds are not available. >> and so i'd be very interested in looking into bipartisan legislation to bring the pas in line with both the debt reduction and the scholarship programming to -- and i love the idea of our returning vets, i know we've talked about aligning their abilities and making sure that they have a path to successful employment in the private sector. and then just briefly, my time is almost up, but i did want to just mention, i'm also interested in the mandated surveys to include pas in the mandated salary surveys in the community so that we -- better align the compensation for pas. but i think you know, we should do what we can to make sure that doctors are working at thei

and underlying issues including deceit and fraud that caused delays and misreporting within the va systemthe discussion today is centered on the remaining flaws and failings in the va healthcare program particularly the veterans choice program. and as much as this program was established to deal with the immediate crisis of access to care in the short term with an investment of 10 billion to 10 billion to provide direct care services in the community and $5 billion to provide a choice program, there is still a lot to be done the program was just a down payment, just a 1st step. i believe that it has to be improved even further. there remains underutilization of the choice program. the underutilization may well be the result of the failure to sufficiently publicize or make aware veterans. it may it may be the result of other more fundamental issues within the program and i share the chairman's view that changing the 40-mile rule was certainly a welcome step. the most important fact that brings us here today that we cannot lose sight of is we still have not solved the crisis that led to thi

unfortunately, veterans do not have that control and will not under the current va health care system. va needs to have a 2015 health care system. we believe the veterans independence act is a road map and solution to do just that. this road map was developed by the fixing the veterans health care task force co-chaired by dr. bill frist, jim marshall and dr. mike kesman former vha under secretary. we developed ten veteran sen tick core principles that serve as the guiding foundation. they included the veteran must not first, not the va. veterans should be able to choose where to get their health care, refocus on veterans with specialized needs. grandfather current enrollees and vha needs accountability. to implement these principles we laid out three major categories of reform and nine policy recommendations. first, restructure the vha as an independent government chartered nonprofit corporation. empowered to make decisions of personnel, it facilities, partnerships and other priorities. second, give veterans the option to seek private health care coverage with the va funds. third, ref

rubio: returning veterans will go into the va system. it was designed 87 years ago and is no longer responsive to the needs of veterans today. a significant percentage of the workload in my senate office are va claims, and veteran should be given the right to go outside the system so they can access the care they need. as far as military spending is it -- concerned, military spending is not the cause of our national debt. every time we reduce military spending, it has required us to make up for it. should we improve our contracting process? absolutely. i wish our military contracting looked more like space contracting, with less change orders adding price to it. the number one obligation of the federal government is national security, and we are eroding our capability as adversaries are increasing their capability. >> where are you going to get the money for it? sen. rubio: the money is there. the question you're asking is what are we not going to pay in exchange? the driver of long-term debt is not discretionary spending. the cause of lo

the va health care system has been an embodiment of our national promise yet today some are proposing to make it just another choice among health care providers while others are calling for the va to be downsized or eliminated. but for millions of veterans wounded, injured or ill from their service there is only one choice. for receiving a specialized care they need and that is a healthy and robust va. although the va provides comprehensive medical care to more than 6 million veterans the1w va's primary mission is to meet the unique, specialized health care needs of the nation's 3.8 million service connected disabled veterans. if va was downsized or eliminated it would, the private health care system would be unable to provide timely access to the specialized care they required. even if all disabled veterans were dispersed into private care, they would only be 1. 5% of the total adult population. does anyone truly believe that a market-based civilian health care system would provide the focus and resources necessary for the small minority and the way va does. mr. chairman while far to

and underlying issues including deceit and fraud that caused delays and misreporting within the va system. the discussion today is centered on the remaining flaws and failings in the va health care program, particularly the veterans choice program. and as much as this program was established to deal with the immediate crisis of access to care in the short term with an investment of $10 billion to provide direct care services in the community and $5 billion to provide the choice program there is still a lot to be done. the program was just a down payment, just a first step. and i believe that it has to be improved even further. there remains, for example underutilization of the choice program. the reasons for it have yet to be determined or discovered. the underutilization may be a result of a failure to publicize or make aware veterans. it may be the result of other more fundamental issues within the program. and i share the chairman's view that changing the 40-mile rule was certainly a welcome step. the most important fact that brings us here today and we can't lose sight of it is we hav

and underlying issues, including deceit and fraud that caused delays and misreporting within the va system. the discussion today is centered on the remaining flaws and failings in the va healthcare program, particularly the veterans choice program. and as much as this program was established to deal with the immediate crisis of access to care in the short term with an investment of 10 billion to 10 billion to provide direct care services in the community and $5 billion to provide a choice program, there is still a lot to be done the program was just a down payment, just a 1st step. i believe that it has to be improved even further. there remains underutilization of the choice program. the underutilization may well be the result of the failure to sufficiently publicize or make aware veterans. it may it may be the result of other more fundamental issues within the program, and i share the chairman's view that changing the 40-mile rule was certainly a welcome step. the most important fact that brings us here today that we cannot lose sight of is, we still have not solved the crisis that led t

the impact of this issue now also begs begs the question, how much will the va system have to contribute to improving my quality of life? because the current systems in the military cannot appropriately address whistleblower reef tallation. disseems to be the very definition of fraud waste and abuse. >> what was striking to us, basically victims have no recourse. service members unlike civilians, can't quit and they can't sue the military. their exclusive legal protection for retaliation in the professional context is the military whistle blower protection art. our research found that the act has protected zero survivors of sexual assault who experience retaliation after reporting their assault. dod surveys indicate that 32% of people who report a sexual assault experience professional retaliation. using that figure, between 2000 and 2013 we would have expected to see about 5,700 people who may have had professional retaliation that could have been the subject of complaints with the inspector general which oversees the isle blower protection investigations. over that same time period, th

va health care. many of the non-v.a. purchased care programs managed by different program officers and v.a. central office in some of these services are handled outside of processing systems. v.a. current purchase models incorporate all of va's non-v.a. care programs into a single integrated purchased care model. congress should look into streamlining non-v.a. care statutory authority. one gets a better sense of how the choice program of play out over the next couple of years. v.a. 90 care statutory -- should be consolidated and rationalize incorporated lessons learned from the v.a. choice program. thank you and again mr. chairman, ranking member blumenthal i appreciate the opportunity to present the american legion's views and look forward to the answers to questions you may have. sen. isakson: we appreciate your willingness to follow up and come to all the hearings. thank you roscoe. darren selnick with concern veterans of america. selnick: members of the committee i appreciate the opportunity to testify at today's hearing on implementation future of the present choice program and thank you for your leadership in ensuring veterans get the quality health care they deserv

on the part of va and, to be honest, even our own staff, including call center and appointing staff. with such an aggressive implementation schedule, there was little time to make system changes. we literally had less than a week from the date we signed a contract modification with veterans to the actual go live date. while the collaboration with the va since the start of the choice program has been good, there is still considerable work that needs to be done to reach a state of stability where the program is operating smoothly and the veteran experience is consistent and gratifying. we appreciate the opportunity and offer our thoughts in the future of the choice program. the choice program is a new program that was implemented in record time. as a result, there are a number of policy and process decisions and issues that are either unresolved or undocumented. if choice is to succeed, these items must be addressed quickly. as i mentioned earlier, we've been working very closely with the va to address these issues. many of the items simply could not have been anticipated before the start of the choice program. others, however, should have been addressed before the prog

he did not want a va system that cannot care for veterans, or an irs system that was not held accountable. he wanted a government that was efficient, accountable, and did not take one dime extra to do its job. we should embrace that. in the house today, we should think about big ideas and big reform. that is why we are talking about tax reform this year. that's why we're talking about 21st cent tury curious. that same debate that ronald reagan had on the eve of his election about government and agencies being too big, it is back again and only larger. last year, there was a study -- what does regulation cost of business? do you realize that to small businesses, the cost is greater. we love to do manufacturing in america today, but small businesses, a cost of $35,000 per employee. how do you compete with that? this demonstration has added hundreds of thousands of new pages of regulation. i was up in napa county, speaking to a high school. i was talking about the challenge of holding us back that the government can do. i do not leave and no regulation, i believe in common sense. one student

all we know, we're about to spend $11 billion on something that the va system is not interoperable withlease tell me i'm absolutely wrong? >> senator that is -- the dod's acquisition of the electronic health record, you are correct, it's one of the most important things that will help the department of defense has agreed to lead the way in pointing to the standards the senator asked me earlier what are the steps we should take. >> one of the most important things to move away is proprietary standards. >> there's some open source bidders, but one of them is -- they're not open source? >> those envendors will have to agree to use the standards that the department of defense wants to use, which are the ones that the onc has published. we're pleased we're all moving in a direction to have a core set of standards that everyone will agree to so we don't run into a problem that the system -- >> the va will be able to share records or that the local hospital will be able to share records with the dod. >> the va and dod is a separate issue. yes, sir the goal is, that becomes not only exchange or

likely is it to happen because it seemed like you left some wiggle room that indeed the va has a different system, it may not yet communicate yet with dod. >> but the va and dod have done now is found a slungsolution to exchange information. so you can see records from the va and the dod. they have taken the first step. the integrating of the data has the same core elements, so there is a technology issue, which is solvable. there is also a policy and culture issue, which honestly is generally the harder one and what we're facing in circumstances like information blocking which is one of the things getting in the way of interoperability and the broader community. >> you spoke of the open source. that seems by definition not to include information blocking. so who is blocking the info? >> so information blocking can happen sometimes from technology, but what we're seeing commonly is that the vendor systems will -- >> i accept that. we have had those hearings about how the vendors are blocking, so now let's take it back where we started. my fear is that the very vendors blocking data are the ones b

is the future of va health care system are evaluating it is important to recognize that the quality of care veterans receive from the va significantly better than what is available in the private sector. moreover many of va's -- could not be duplicated or properly supplemented by private sector health care especially for combat related mental health blast injuries or service related toxic exposures to name a few. with this in mind the must continue to serve as the initial touch point and guarantor of care for all enrolled veterans. although enrollment in the va health care system is not mandatory and despite more than 75% of veterans having other forms of health care coverage more than 6.5 million of them choose to rely on their earned va benefits and are by and large satisfied with the care they receive. moving forward the lessons learned in the veterans choice program should be incorporated into a single systemwide non-va care program with veteran centric and clinically driven standards which afford veterans the opportunity to receive private sector health care if va is unable to mee

it seems like you left some wiggle room that indeed the va has a separate system and it may not yet communicate with the dod. >> they've found a solution to exchange information. so if you're at the bedside with the patients, you can see the records from the va and the dod. the integrating of the data requires having the same core data elements. there's a technology issue which is solvable. there's also a policy issue which is generally the harder one, like information blocking, which is one of the things getting in the way in the broader community. >> you spoke of the open source. that seems by definition not to include information blocking. so who is blocking the info? >> so information blocking can happen sometimes from technology. but what we're seeing commonly is that the vendor systems will charge -- >> i accept that. we've had the hearings about how the vendors are blocking. let's take it back where we start pd. my fear is the unvendors blocking bidding. ic i'm not cliesh, with the final $11 billion project be something that i at in baton rouge can access data or will there be a problem

he did not want a va system that cannot care for veterans, or an irs system that was not held accountablehe wanted a government that was efficient, accountable, and did not take one dime extra to do its job. we should embrace that. in the house today, we should think about big ideas and big reform. that is why we are talking about tax reform this year. that's why we're talking about 21st cent tury curious. that same debate that ronald reagan had on the eve of his election about government and agencies being too big it is back again and only larger. last year, there was a study -- what does regulation cost of business? do you realize that to small businesses the cost is greater. we love to do manufacturing in america today, but small businesses, a cost of $35,000 per employee. how do you compete with that? this demonstration has added hundreds of thousands of new pages of regulation. i was up in napa county speaking to a high school. i was talking about the challenge of holding us back that the government can do. i do not leave and no regulation, i believe in common sense. one student in t

they have been hired by the va to connect veterans to mental health professionals outside of the va system we are making strides. it is important you call senators and representatives and urge them that mental health is the tenth leading death in this country, or suicide, and until he get a handle on the mental health issues addiction, alcohol issues we will not turn the tide. this is really a war on mental health much like the war richard nixon commenced on on cancer hiv, and alzheimer's. we have to mobilize in the street. people are there and want to help. >> marilyn is on go ahead. >> >> caller: i want to comment and say i thought it was important you are emphasizing this issue because like you said not much money is being put into this issue. i just wanted to say i am 20 now, diagnosed with depression at 13 and i made a suicide attempt and since then it haunted me for many years. i think about doing it again when i have issues going on in school or friends. so yeah just wanted to say teenagers/adolescents definitely struggle with this a lot and suicide attempts do go through most of th

took up a va appropriations bill in the house of representatives quite frankly is underfunds our va system. we have no problem with the borrowing money to senate halfway around the world but when it comes to dealing with problems including veterans care here in the united states, all of a sudden we're told we have a tough budget situation from we can't afford a. i think that's just wrong. >> host: have you seen improvements in the va in the last year or two? >> guest: in my state i have seen some improvements. there's more to do but i think the da gets the message and it's too bad we have to confront some of these issues but what about this terrible scandal that occurred but if you think i do see noticeable changes in massachusetts. >> host: joe is in ohio on our independent line. >> caller: good morning, peter. i never thought i would say this. i'm 63 but i wholeheartedly agree with both of these gentlemen, republican and a democrat. i said if you look back at what congress did when george bush was negotiating with saddam hussein to go and inspecting, he told congress he needed the war po

va. what happens if it takes too long. the process. by the time to go to the system so what else has already hired event. so let's dosage and say that people do not want to go to the va. they do come and they want to work at the va. let's be clear. we have doctors and nurses and professionals. there are veterans that are coming at the want to work at the va but our process is too long. i yield. >> i will now take this opportunity to recognize my good friend, senator boozman, dr. bos with whom he served in the superior house, which is the house of representatives, was on the veterans' affairs committee. i know you to senator boozman. >> thank you very much and thank you all for being you and thank you so much for your advocacy. you will do a tremendous job in pushing things forward. i agree with you is to write off. the danger is in the signing ceremony everybody is patting themselves on the back, the nation is patting themselves on the back. much of congress. you forget about these things. we do have to keep at the top of the list. mr. rowan, you made an excellent point. the majority of people that our co

the impact of the issue also begs the question how much will the va system has to contribute to improvingbecause the current system and the military cannot appropriately address whistleblower retaliation. it seems to be the very definition of fraud waste and abuse. >> thank you so much. >> to service members faced a different devastating retaliation you heard about outlined in the report basically have no resource. servicemembers unlike civilians can't quite and they can see the military. their exclusive legal protection for retaliation in a professional context of the military whistleblower act. that act as protecting zero survivors who experienced retaliation after reporting assaults. dod surveys indicate 32% of people who reported sexual assault experienced professional retaliation. using the figure between 2004 and 2013 we expected to see about 5700 people who may have had professional retaliation that could have been the subject of complaints at the inspector general which oversees the whistleblower protection investigation. over the same time period, the department of defense inspec

va. what happens is is it takes too long. the process. by the time they go through the they system, someone else has already hired them. so let's don't sit here and say that people do not want to go to the va, they do. and they want to work at the va. let's be clear. we have doctors and nurses and professionals, there are veterans that is coming out that want to work at the va, but our process is too long. i yield. >> i thank the gentle lady for yielding.se o i take this opportunity to e recognize my good friend senator boozman, dr. boozman, when he you v served in theer superior house, u very the house of representatives, was on the veterans affairs re and committee. and i yield to senator boozman. >> thank you very much. and i thank all of you all for being here and thank you so muchoff, for your advocacy. you all do a tremendous job in pushing things forward. i agree with you, mr. rieckhoffack. the danger is in the signing ceremony, you know.bout t everybody ishe patting themselves on the back. to ke the nation isep patting themselves on the back. much of congress. and you forget about thesewan, poin things. we do pe

they started by talking about how important the cemeteries are to the origins of the va system take aries that actually were the origin of the early va. we talk about president lincoln's second address. he said to care for him who's born into battle his widow and orphan. the importance of women in the military and female veterans but we still use that second address, it was during that time, during the civil war, that 750,000 americans lost their lives. so think of 514 americans dying, every single day, for four years. and the country wasn't ready for that carnage, so they buried the soldiers on the battlefield. and it was president lincoln when he created the sanitation commission, they dug up the bodies, and they identified them. and we still have those records today. and then he worked with congress to create 14 cemeteries around the country to rebury those bodies identified with grave markers. so it really is the nucleus, it is the catalyst of what created the va. >>> now to the story of sergeant aaron kramer. killed in action on september 16th 2010 from injuries sustained in comb

you left wiggle room that the va has a different system and may not communicate with dod? >> they have found a solution to exchange information you can see the records from the va and dod. they've taken that first step. the integrating of the data requires having the same core data elements. there's a technology issue which is solvable and policy and culture issue which is the harder one in what we're facing in circumstances like information blocking which is one of the things getting in the way of interoperability. >> you spoke of the open source that seems to not include information blocking. who's blocking info? >> that can happen sometimes from technology but what we see commonly is that the vendor systems will -- >> i accept that. let's take it back where it started. my fear is the ones blocking data are the ones bidding but then you mentioned open source but return to the fact there could be blocking. will the final $11 billion project be something that i at baton rouge can access or will there be blocking? >> i would need the dod to answer. since we've put out the re

system. because va in many instances is not letting anybody else know. they're covering many of the issues up. >> thank you for joining us. be sure to keep us posted on the progrm. >> thank you, elizabeth. >>> across the pond this morning, a huge announcement. royal fans and media are camping outside a hospital hoping to catch a glimpse of the new royal baby. a town crier revealing the dutch and duchess of cambridge welcomed a healthy baby girl. amy kellogg is live outside st. mary's hospital in london with all the new royal baby details. >> reporter: hi elizabeth. we're state waiting for a glimpse of the little princess. we finally got a glimpse of the very proud father and the very bewildered little brother who is inside now meeting his little sister. it was a radiant prince will the duke of cambridge, who emerged a couple of hours ago, just looking so happy, saying in fact he was very happy, and he was off to collect prince george. he was back in no time. got out of his range rover. of course he went with police escort so it was a very quick buzz over

, but it does mean when and if a housing crisis occurs we have system in place to identify and quickly house all our veterans. right now va is undergoing the largest reorganization in history. we are reorienting ourselves around veterans out comes and look at everything we do through had lens of the veteran. one of the strategies we are using is increasing use of strategic partnership. we haven't partnerships to be more important in the work and ending veterans homelessness. we have vital partnerships at federal, state and local level that allowed to make substantial progress to date and insure or future success. at the federal level the department of housing urban dwept and also the department of labor are great partners in terms of providing vouchers and other important resources. mayors from across the country have signed the first ladies mayors challenge to end veterans homelessness. as part of that challenge 570 mayors, governors and other local officials have committed to ending veterans homelessness in their community. mayor lee made that commitment a long time goy and today the new mayor of oakland mayor shaft and

google is expected to reveal more tools for android pry va says well as methods no at the grate its operating systems. and plan to expand its services deeper into wearable devices. >> new this morning a legal battle brewing between makers of hottest fittest makers. jaw bone is accusing fit bit of stealing secrets. jaw bone says a number of former employees downloaded company information to thumb drives and then threat job. this news comes as fit little bit is preparing to start trading its stock publicly. >> your sick of robo calls and telemarketers? i think a lot of people feel the same way. >> businesses are booming at air b and b. we have those stories and more in our morning money report. >> reporter: a modestly lower start to things after nasdaq closed at a new record high yesterday. definitely not awesome to answer your phone and hear a job call or telemarketing message. a decades after the do-not-call registry calls are still coming in. but there's new protection to let consumers tell their calls. a company recently expanded into cuba and executives say they are look at temporary rentals in a

system that has 9 million veterans. frye places the blame squarely on top brass accusing va officials of ignoring his concerns and deceiving held accountable for these violations of law he writes, but swept under the rug and my office to approve an institution al ratification for thousands of commitments worth hundreds of millions of dollars. >> you can't treat veterans like this. >> frye's memo marks the latest scandal in an agency already wracked by a series of scandal. revelations of long wait times by veterans seeking care led to congressional hearings. >> working together and really meaning it. working together for the good of our veterans, that's what the public expects. and that's what i'm -- >> look what 40 veterans died. >> and the resignation of mcdonald's predecessor. when mcdonald took over, he vowed to change course. >> right now, the department of veterans affairs has before it the greatest opportunity to enhance care. >> frye is a retired army colonel, who has over sinakcisions since 2005. and the problems that he describes shake the bedrock of the agency. as a boy i worked with my father in the construction

system in minnesota. we are provided with excellent care. some of my friends, one a couple weeks ago, had an operation in the va hospital in minneapolis.'m sorry to hear a lot of disappointment that people had with the v.a. -- i have to say again, i have nothing but praise. thank you very much for c-span. host: a live look at the capitol on this memorial day weekend. gary is joining us now from florida. our line for all others. good morning. caller: i'm not a veteran, i'm not in active military person, but i have a lot of veteran friends and military friends. i certainly believe that the v.a. is an adequate -- inadequate. i do not understand why, with obamacare being a government central program, that they do not have a special option for veterans. the idea that you do not have any options actually sounds like a communist environment. my other concern -- or comment is when a person in the military, who works in a certain area, let's say avionics, leaves the military, they have to get a certificate to work in that same area in a public sector. i think the military, or the whole system, should provide training so that they can get that c

done a great deal with regards to more funding, shorten the waiting list at the va, and get more providers in the systems what also is happening, unique to this war, many are surviving that did not in past wars. automatic brain injury. many people -- more dramatic brain injury. someone has been exposed to a lot of blasts, a lot of explosions. that can affect the brain. we are doing a great deal. we do not leave anybody in the field in the military, we leave nobody behind. that means, in benghazi, we do not leave them behind. if someone is in baghdad or afghanistan, we do not leave them behind, but we do not leave them behind when they are in the united states. that is when the military community recognizes these problems and where they get worse we died in. -- dive in. we do that as veterans and as a nation, as military. it is a family. as a nation we will continue to help. host: pennsylvania, leslie, you are on the air with congressman tim murphy. caller: good morning, congressman, thank you for bringing a bill like this about here it is critical and you are right on about how you're talking about menta

va. running 151 medical centers, 900 cbocs. in a nation that has a dysfunctional health care system, the private sector also has one or two problems i won't go into them but i think we should recognize when you talk to the major veterans organizations, the american legion, the vfw, you know what they say? you've heard this mr. chairman. when people walk into va, the quality of care is pretty good and i want to thank you for trying to improve that care. i will fight vigorously for those who want to try to privatize the va or dismember the va. i think our goal of trying to use the program that we have developed so the people can get care in the community locally has a good mention but i will oppose to trying to privatize the va which is serving our veterans so very well. i want to get to another issue and senator blumenthal touched on it today. i wrote a letter to secretary mcdonald about an issue that has concerned me for a while and that is the high cost of the drug sovaldi, which is a very -- a miracle drug, so to speak, which is now treating the veterans of our country who have very high rates of hepatitis c. mr. chairman, to me

use the private sector well, an alternative to make the veteran system work it's not a substitute, but an alternative. when you save the va money this cost, you're getting the private sector investment and getting better health care. i'm willing to look at -- we just did a budget in the congress, it's a ten-year budget balances in the tents year. va's got some problems it's probably going to take ten years to financially solve but you've got to begin that in some point in time. so, hopefully, we'll work through the problem in denver and get the resolution on who builds what. we also look at a macro sense, the change we need to make a. eventually, we're going to have a delivery system that's probably less costly than building the bricks and mortar. it's going to take us a while to get there but i want to thank you for being here. thank you for your service to america. appreciate the time everybody's given us today. >>> if you missed any of this hearing, you can watch it anytime in our video library. elsewhere on capitol hill today the senate voted to block the president's fast track trade authority. the hill writes that se

the va tried to strip it out and spend it on other things. bureaucrats want veterans inside the systemospitals that are billions overbudget and taking way too long like in colorado. oftentimes we see that money going to middle management to the middle of the budget as opposed to doctors and hospitals where it need to go so veterans are served more quickly. >> thanks for joining us from pittsburgh. as much as we love having you, i hope next memorial day we're not having the same conversation. >>> they're calling it a miracle she survived. an elderly woman in the wilderness for two weeks. >>> parents congrats on your children graduating college. how much should you help your adult child? a few different scenarios coming up. ♪ only nexium 24hr gives you nexium level protection for frequent heartburn all day and all night. try nexium 24hr, the #1 prescribed acid-blocking brand, and get all day, all night protection. nexium level protection. there's some facts about seaworld we'd like you to know. we don't collect killer whales from the wild. and haven't for 35 years. with the hightest stan

va. it is a broken bureaucracy that is not going to get fixed until they get serious about accountability of their employees, and they start giving choice for health care until competition is put into the systeme no incentive to change for the positive. >> amber smith, thank you very much for joining us and thank you for your service of course. >> thank you . >> we appreciate you being here. thank you very much indeed. tom sullivan is with me, you're shaking your and head throwing your arms in the air. >> well this is a continuing story from agency to agency to agency. they're buying -- using federal government credit cards to go to strip clubs and i mean it's just out of control. and what drove me was accountability. there is no accountability. you can't get fired. you can do anything you want, and you can't get fired . >> but that's the story across all assets of government. >> yes. government is broken. it is so broken . >> but it's the agency of change of choice for this president. he wants all government all the time. when is the message going to get through that the government is never efficient? it is always bureaucratic. when is that message going to get through? >> well, we elect our

va has and the 2 million patients dod has we have one unified record. my hope we have this all with open code and open source to repeat the success that motorola had with the android systemere they had 70,000 apps from the industry that were written to the open code of android. can you give me a comment on that? >> i will be coming to you with a stroke net consortium we're putting together across illinois with five hospitals. i will say including barnes, jewish which is particularly good at working with nih. >> well, i'm really -- my hat is off to you for what you're doing with the dod and va to try to make this into a seamless electronic health record. all people in the service are anxious to see that happen. it's been difficult with those transitions. this all fits together with a broader effort to try to see if electronic health records that are being collected on all of us can be made more enter operable so you can walk around from one state to the next and have your health records accessible when you need them. there is in our precision medicine initiative a great need for this electronic health record to be usable in the best way. we're working with the office of t

i know that staffing issues facing ventura county are ones that can be found across the va system. i look forward to hearing how va is using the funding provided in the choice act to increase the department's work force and high demand occupations so that the nation's veterans have timely access to the high quality professional care that the va is known for. thank you, mr. chairman and i yield back the balance of my time. >> thank you. joining on the first panel is john clifford president of the nurses organization of veteran affairs, the president of the national association of veterans affairs physicians and dentists, the president of the veteran affairs physician assistant association, and jeff morris, director of communications, and external affairs for the american board of physician specialties, and dr. nickel, member and employee of the american medical association. ms. clifford we will begin with you. please proceed with your testimony. we allow everybody five minutes. there should be a little light there. when it's red, that means you're up. thanks. >> all right. thank you.