Making Community Care Work for Veterans Act of 2023

This bill makes changes to how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides community care to veterans, addresses health care employee programs, and covers other health care matters. It requires timely scheduling of appointments, modifies access standards, and establishes new programs and reporting requirements.

Title I, Improvements to Community Care: Requires that non-urgent community care appointments be scheduled within 7 days and urgent appointments completed within 48 hours. It modifies access standards for community care, including driving time and wait time limits. Telehealth appointments are only considered available if the veteran accepts them. Decisions by a veteran and their referring clinician on the best medical interest are final. It extends disability benefits to veterans injured by community care providers. The claim submission period for health care entities is extended from 180 days to one year. A program allows veterans to self-refer for vaccinations and vision/hearing services. Monthly reports on referral times are required. Community care providers must submit certain data or be excluded from the program. A High-Compliance rating program for providers is established. The VA must adopt national interoperability standards for health information exchange. A feasibility study on a community care network in the Philippines is required. A pilot program tests consolidating the dental treatment plan approval process. Annual reviews of payment rate waivers are required. A Comptroller General report on dental care under the community care program is mandated.

Title II, Health Care Employees: Establishes the Start and Stay at VA Program, providing scholarships and lump sum education debt reduction for VA employees. The payment period under the Employee Incentive Scholarship Program is expanded from six to eight years for full-time and three to four years for part-time employees. A mentorship program for executive leadership teams at VA medical centers may be established.

Title III, Other Health Care Matters: Requires that VA facility appointments be scheduled within 7 days for non-urgent care and completed within 48 hours for urgent care. Quality of care standards must be comparable to industry standards. The Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program must be updated with standardized referral processes and timeliness standards. An online portal for the CHAMPVA program must allow electronic submission and status tracking. A review of workflows for processing referrals between VA facilities is required.