Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute: Department of Veterans Affairs MISSION Act Quality Standards (Pubic Comment)

Fee‐for‐Service Medicare‐Enrolled Elderly Veterans Are Increasingly Voting with Their Feet to Use More VA and Less Medicare, 2003–2014

ProPublica: Steve Cohen Is Spending Millions to Help Veterans. Why Are People Angry?

The Nation: Is This Hedge-Fund Titan Greasing the Levers for Privatizing the Veterans Health Administration?

Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute analysis: The National Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide 2018-2028

Washington Monthly: Unhealthy Skepticism

The American Prospect: Trump Administration Moves Forward on VA Privatization

Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute: Policy Analysis of Joint Action Plan for Supporting Veterans During Their Transition from Uniformed Service to Civilian Life

GAO Report: Veterans accessing CHOICE face lengthy delays to receive care.

Opinion article from former VA Physician: The VA is working just fine, thank you.

Becker’s Hospital Review, May 8: VA care as good or better than other U.S. hospitals

Multiple Organization Analysis of the MISSION Act of 2018.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Evaluation of the Department of Veterans Affairs Mental Health Services. Click the "Download PDF" button to obtain the report.

Russell B. Lemle: Choice Program Expansion Jeopardizes High-Quality VHA Mental Health Services

AVAPL and APA: Top 10 Requirements for Coordinating VHA and Community Care

Multiple Organization Analysis of Asset and Infrastructure Review Act of 2017

VA Organizational Partnership Analysis: Caring for our Veterans Act of 2017

Michael Blecker: With Obamacare Fight Lost, Conservatives Turn to Veterans' Care

Statement for the Record Regarding Draft Legislation to Establish a Permanent CHOICE Program

New England Journal of Medicine: The VA Is a Quality Leader, Contrary to Many People's Assumptions

VoteVets, in collaboration with the Bridge Project, has issued a report on Concerned Veterans for America.

Suzanne Gordon: VHA Budget Cuts Threaten Veteran Safety

RAND: Repealing or Replacing Affordable Care Act Would Result in More Uninsured Veterans, Increase Stress on VA Health System

AVAPL Partners with Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs, Fighting for Veterans Healthcare, and Association of VA Social Workers: Provisions That Should Be Included in Veterans Choice Program Renewal Legislation.

Partnered Evidence-based Policy Resource Center: Cost, Quality, and Access of Fee-For-Service Purchased Care vs. VHA Care for Veterans

Partnered Evidence-based Policy Resource Center: Cost, Quality, and Access under Risk-Based Contracting: The Medicare Advantage Experience

The American Legion: Longman-Gordon Report - VA Healthcare: A System Worth Saving

Suzanne Gordon in The Nation: America’s Biggest Publicly Funded, Fully Integrated Health-Care System Is Under Attack

Association of VA Psychologist Leaders, Fighting for Veterans Healthcare, Association of VA Social Workers, Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs, and The American Geriatrics Society: Policy analysis on different proposals to redesign the Choice program

Suzanne Gordon in The Hill: Yes, Trump is Privatizing the VA

The Hill: Congress must act to better the healthcare of America's veterans

American Journal of Medicine article from Dr. Carolyn Clancy and Dr. David Adkins: Veterans’ Health Care: When Oversimplification Undermines Choice

Definitive Healthcare: VA Health Care Has Superior Quality

Fighting for Veterans Healthcare speaks out on the dangers of outsourcing VA services. Read the text here, or visit their website.

AVAPL Issues White Paper: The Threat to Veterans’ Mental Health Care of Renewing or Expanding the Choice Program Without Supplemental Funding

Retired Psychology Chief Edgardo Padin-Rivera advocates for VA care in the Washington Monthly.

From DAV: "Setting the Record Straight" and "Putting Choice in Context" (YouTube video, autoplays)

Phillip Longman: More Fake News About VA Hospitals

Bernie Sanders' Statement on VA

Suzanne Gordon: Fact-Checking Fact-Checkers on Privatizing Vets' Health Care

Secretary McDonald Rebuts USA Today Article on VA Health Care

Alliance for Health Reform briefing: Health Care for Veterans: Where Things Stand & Next Steps.

RAND Corporation: Comparing VA and Non-VA Quality of Care: A Systematic Review and slides from the Alliance for Health Reform briefing.

Boise VAMC Psychiatrist describes the value of VA care: Laboring in the Shadow of the Media: Care and Perceptions of Care in the VA

President Obama responds to the Commission on Care report, rejects recommendation to change VA's governance structure. Read the response here.

VA Secretary McDonald responds to the Commission on Care report. Read the response here.

VoteVets.Org launches ad campaign against privatizing VA. View their ad on YouTube.

The American Prospect: Studies Show Veterans Health Care Improving

VA Press Release: The Joint Commission Releases Results of VA Health Care Surveys to VA

Policy Brief re Commission on Care Final Report: Major Recommendation Ignores Data, Risks Veterans’ Healthcare from the following organizations: Association of VA Psychologist Leaders, Association of VA Social Workers, Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Affairs Physician Assistant Association, American Federation of Government Employees, National Federation of Federal Employees, National Nurses United, National Association of Government Employees, American Psychological Association, National Association of Social Workers.

AFGE Calls the Commission on Care Report "Horrendous" and "Anti-Veteran"

Commission on Care Commissioner Michael Blecker's Dissent

Final report from the Commission on Care

Forbes article: Proposed Board For A Privatized VA Would Push Vets Out In The Cold

Senator Rockefeller Advocates Against Privatizing VA

National President of AFGE: No, the VA is not broken.

VHA Under Secretary for Health: Why VA Care Is Different

Veterans Service Organizations Express Their Views on Privatizing Veterans' Health Care

Joint VSO Letter Opposing Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers' Legislation

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA): IAVA Members Want a Better VA, Not a Privatized VA

Joint VSO Letter Regarding the Choice Program

Joint VSO Letter Opposing the Privatization of VA

American Legion: Legion Fights Efforts to Privatize VA Care

Paralyzed Veterans of America: Why Privatizing VA Healthcare Would be a Huge Mistake

DAV Addresses the Issue of Downsizing VA: View their video here on their Facebook page.

VA Mental Health Care Better Than Private Sector

A recently published article in Psychiatric Services reports that the medication treatment received by veterans in VHA is better than that received by patients in the private sector. Read the article here.

Comparison of VA and Non-VA Health Care Quality

AVAPL has reviewed the literature on the quality of VA health care as compared to private and non-VA public sector health care. In the majority of studies, VA health care is as good as or better than health care from other systems. Read the review here.

VA Medical Innovations and Discoveries: Summary Fact Sheet compiled by the Association of VA Psychologist Leaders

Custodians of Veteran Health Care

San Francisco-based not-for-profit organization befitting veterans, Swords to Plowshares, has distributed an article advocating against the privatizing of VA health care services. Read the article here. This article was written by Michael Blecker, Executive Director of Swords to Plowshares and a member of the Commission on Care, and he gave permission to distribute the article.

Washington Monthly: The VA Isn't Broken Yet

In this article, the Washington Monthly documents the rise of the Commission on Care and the push toward privatizing VA. Read the article here.

AVAPL Presents to the VA Commission on Care

Members of the AVAPL Exexcutive Committee and the AVAPL Advisory Committee presented their views on the advantages of VA-provided care for Veterans at a meeting of the VA Commission on Care on January 21, 2016. View the slides from their presentation here.

AVAPL, Association of VA Social Workers, American Psychological Association, and National Association of Social Workers Jointly Address Proposed Efforts to Expand VA Choice Program

Many veterans wait unacceptably long times for appointments in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The Veterans Access, Choice, Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 Choice Card Program was enacted as a three-year solution to address access problems for selected veterans. One year into that pilot, there are concerted Congressional efforts to expand the Choice Program, and make it permanent. There are no additional appropriations in the Choice Card Program expansion bills; funding for expanding the Choice Card Program would come by siphoning allocations from VHA Medical Centers & Community Based Outpatient Clinics -- downsizing the number of VHA providers and programs. The effect over time would be to dismantle the VHA system and privatize care for veterans. The proposed expansion of Choice is predicated on popular myths, which are critiqued here.

Poll Shows Veterans Support VA Health Care, Oppose Privatization

A new poll commissioned by the Vet Voice Foundation suggests that veterans oppose attempts to privatize VA health care services. Read the report here.

Commentary on Proposed Legislation

Suzanne Gordon: "Say Never to the 'Never Again Act'"

"Never Again Act": Click here to view the policy brief from AVAPL and APA on the "Never Again Act."

Title 38 for Psychologists

Title 38 White Paper

Click here to view the Title 38 White Paper, developed by the AVAPL Executive Committee.