Veterans' Care Quality Transparency Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. TAKANO. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, to meet the needs of veterans, VA has long relied on community partners to provide outreach and services, particularly to address mental health needs and suicide prevention.

The number of mental health- and suicide prevention-related agreements between VA and these organizations has increased exponentially since 2014. It is anticipated that these relationships will continue to grow in the months following the signing of Executive Order No. 13861 on March 5, 2019.

Now, this executive order seeks to establish grants to local communities to better collaborate and integrate service delivery and resources for veterans. As reliance on outside groups grows, Congress must better understand the effectiveness of the programs and mental health services these private organizations offer. VA must also ensure such partnered organizations are able to provide quality, culturally competent, evidence-based services to veterans.

Congresswoman Underwood's legislation, H.R. 2372, as amended, would require the Government Accountability Office to study the effectiveness of these partnerships between VA and organizations providing services related to suicide prevention and mental healthcare.

When complete, GAO would report their findings to the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees. As part of the assessment, GAO is required to look at several factors, such as the staffing structure of the organization, its accreditations or licensures, the level of oversight and tracking of outcomes by VA, and the secure exchange of data and information.

The GAO would also be required to study the ability of these organizations to serve unique subsets of the veteran population, including, women, minorities, older and younger veteran cohorts, families, and veterans who reside in U.S. insular areas.

I thank Ms. Underwood for introducing this legislation because it will ensure VA is responsibly leveraging its community partnerships to reduce veteran suicide and support VA in its transformation to a public health approach to suicide prevention. This public health approach focuses on prevention and intervention before veterans are in crisis.

As I previously mentioned, a two-pronged strategy is necessary to address the national crisis of veteran suicide. These Federal, State, and local partnerships are integral to the first prong of the strategy of prevention and early intervention.

It is critical that we develop these partnerships as part of an infrastructure to support veterans. This legislation will ensure we are using taxpayer funds effectively to partner with those organizations providing quality, evidence-based programs.

Madam Speaker, I am proud to support this legislation, and I encourage all my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 2372, as amended.

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