Boozman calls for briefing

BENTON COUNTY — U.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Ark., the ranking member of the House VeteransAffairs Economic Opportunity Subcommittee, and U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin, D-S.D., sent a letter about the shortcomings in women veterans' health care to EricShinseki, U.S. secretary of Veterans Affairs.

With the global war on terror, more and more women are returning home and relying on the VA for their health care. But within the year, reports have indicated improvements are needed to provide female veterans the health care they need and deserve, Boozman said in a recent press release.

Dated Sept. 16, 2009, the letter was sent with the unanimous support of members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said Sara Lasure, Boozman's communications director.

Veterans Affairs Committee members asked Shinseki to brief them on the implementation of the recommendations offered in two reports.

The Report of the Under Secretary for Health Workgroup: Provision of Primary Care to Women Veterans (November 2008) and the Government Accountability Office Report, Preliminary Findings on VA's Provision of Health Care Services to Women Veterans GAO-09-899T (July 2009) indicated improvements are needed, the press release states.

Parts of the letter sent to Secretary Shinseki follow:

"We write to respectfully request a briefing on the actions the Department of Veterans of Affairs is taking to fully implement the recommendations and improve the deficiencies in care for women veterans described in the reports. As you know, the VA report was commissioned by Secretary Peake and circulated within the VA beginning in November 2008. The GAO report was released on July 14, 2009, in conjunction with hearings in the Senate and House Veterans Affairs committees addressing women veterans' health-care issues.

"The VA report recommended improvements in five areas - delivering coordinated, comprehensive primary women's health care at every VA facility; ensuring integration of women's mental health as part of primary care; promoting and incentivizing innovation in care delivery by supporting local best practices; cultivating and enhancing capabilities of all VA staff with regard to the needs of women veterans; achieving gender equity in the provision of clinical care."

It's important for the VA to take leadership responsibility for implementing the changes recommended in the report, Boozman and Herseth-Sandlin wrote in the letter.

Also, the GAO report brought up several issues that are outside the scope of the internal VA report, the letter states.

"The GAO report found the VA should improve inpatient mentalhealth facilities for women veterans, should enhance efforts to hire medical personnel who are experiencedin women-specific health needs and procedures, and should address deficiencies in the physical layout of certain facilities to ensure adequate levels of privacy for women veterans who seek care at VA facilities. In the VA briefing we are requesting, we would appreciate details regarding the VA's plan to correct the areas singled out for improvement in the GAO report," the letter states.

Women are a growing population in the active, reserve and Guard forces of our armed services, and women veterans are an increasingly larger proportion of patients cared for by the VA, the letter states.

"These two reports show the need for the VA to make significant changes in the short term to begin better addressing women veterans' needs in the long term," the letter states.

The letter notes that the U.S. House supported improving the provision of health care for women veterans, voting unanimously for the Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act.

"We respectfully request the VA brief us on its plans to ensure the expeditious implementation of improvements to the VA's health-care delivery system for women veterans in response to the challenges and solutions outlined in both reports," the letter states.

Boozman intends to continue bipartisan work to ensure that the VA health-care system is prepared to serve all members of the armed forces when they return home, including women, he said in the press release.