VA EHR STABILITY CONCERNS — Lawmakers’ patience with the VA’s troubled electronic health records system transition is wearing thin more than three years after it first went live, Ben reports. Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), chair of the House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on technology modernization, argued in a hearing Wednesday that VA data on system performance isn’t showing the extent of the issues, pointing to information from health IT research firm KLAS showing user dissatisfaction with the system. He said employees have stopped reporting glitches, echoing a POLITICO report last month. Kurt DelBene, the VA’s chief information officer, said contractor Oracle Cerner has met incident-free time requirements in only four of the 10 past months as of September. In written testimony, top Oracle executive Mike Sicilia said that in 12 of the past 13 months, there have been no system outages, meaning the system is unavailable. He said Oracle gave the VA a “credit” under the terms of a newly negotiated contract after not meeting incident-free requirements. Also in veterans’ news: Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), ranking member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said Wednesday he’d requested a Government Accountability Office audit of the VA’s Veterans Crisis Line. The background: A VA watchdog report released in September found that a crisis line staffer failed to take sufficient action to help a veteran who died by suicide the same night they contacted the line. Moran said he received a “credible allegation” that staff are sending veterans requiring “complex needs” to a special division that’s understaffed and undertrained. He’s requesting a GAO investigation of the crisis line’s operations and oversight. In a letter to Moran Wednesday, VA Secretary Denis McDonough wrote that the “complex needs” program is for callers showing “inappropriately abusive behavior,” who are often not veterans or calling on their behalf. Those callers can use resources that would benefit veterans in “immediate crisis,” McDonough wrote. 21 BILLS ADVANCE — The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee advanced 21 bills to the full committee Wednesday despite divergent views among top Democrats over a proposal that would grant four years of Medicare coverage for breakthrough medical devices, POLITICO’s David Lim reports. Fireworks: E&C health subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and full committee ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) disagreed over the Ensuring Patient Access to Critical Breakthrough Products Act of 2023, which passed out of committee. Pallone worries the bill will undermine CMS’ mission to provide reasonable and necessary coverage of medical products for older adults. But Eshoo said the bill is needed to speed Medicare coverage of new medical technologies — a process she said takes too long. Durable medical equipment payment: Democrats, including Pallone and Eshoo, opposed the DMEPOS Relief Act of 2023, which also covers prosthetics and boosted Medicare reimbursement rates for durable medical equipment during the Covid-19 pandemic, saying it shouldn’t be extended. What’s next: Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) plans to find offsets and work with federal agencies before the full committee marks up legislation.
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