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U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) today testified before the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health about her legislation to improve transparency and patient care for veterans at the VA. H.R. 501, the VA Transparency Enhancement Act, would require VA hospitals to improve reporting of surgical infection rates, cancelled surgeries, and other issues impacting quality of care. The bill is one of 10 pieces of legislation under consideration at today’s legislative hearing by the Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health. 

“The number one priority for all of us is to ensure that veterans receive the highest quality health care,” said Dingell. “The VA Transparency Enhancement Act is a critical step toward improving our VA healthcare system. By increasing transparency we can prevent bad outcomes for our veterans and identify problems at VA hospitals sooner. Our responsibility as Members of Congress is to be a voice and advocate for veterans all across this country and serve our veterans as well as they have served us. The VA Transparency Enhancement Act will help Congress understand when, where, and why infections are happening or if surgeries are being cancelled so the VA and Congress can effectively address the problem.”

Dingell and Congressman Tim Walberg first introduced the bipartisan legislation in 2016 after an ongoing contamination issue at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System led to surgeries for veterans being intermittently canceled or moved to different hospitals. In meeting with VA leadership on the issue, the Representatives learned that VA hospitals are not required to report on surgical infection and cancellation rates, and that other reporting requirements can be improved as well.

The VA Transparency Enhancement Act would bring VA reporting requirements more in line with other hospitals, and require them to report on surgical cancellations and the impact on patients for the first time.

Dingell’s full testimony can be read below.

Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member Brownley, thank you for your tireless dedication to our veterans and for allowing me to testify in support of my legislation, H.R. 501, the VA Transparency Enhancement Act.  This bipartisan legislation, which I introduced with my colleague Congressman Tim Walberg from Michigan, is a commonsense measure we can take to improve transparency and quality of care for our veterans, and I urge the committee to consider this bill as soon as possible.

My legislation simply requires the director of each VA medical center to send quarterly reports to the Secretary on the number of surgical infections at each facility and the number of surgeries which were cancelled or transferred to another hospital.  The Secretary would then transmit these reports to Congress and publish them on the Department’s website to help improve transparency.

This legislation is a direct response to an unfortunate incident at a VA hospital in my district.  The VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System had a recurring problem with particulate matter appearing on trays of surgical equipment that are supposed to be sterile.  In addition to raising the risk of infections, many veterans had their surgeries cancelled or moved to a different location.  Cancelling or delaying a surgery could result in adverse health outcomes for veterans and we must know as soon as possible if this is happening at our facilities. 

This is not the only instance of cancelled surgeries at a VA hospital. In September 2015, the Star Tribune reported that the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center was forced to postpone and reschedule dozens of surgical procedures after an “an unidentified substance” was found in sterilizing equipment.     

As I dug into the issue, I learned that VA hospitals are not required to publicly report on surgical infections and cancellation rates as other hospitals do.  The VA Transparency Enhancement Act will help Congress understand when, where, and why infections are happening or if surgeries are being cancelled so the VA and Congress can effectively address the problem.  We should know as soon as possible if surgical infections or cancellations are increasing at any VA hospital. 

Other hospitals are required to make this data available, and it is a transparent metric for all of us to ensure our veterans are receiving quality health care.  Surgical infection rates are an important measurement and all patients in any hospital have a right to know. This should be critical for our veterans.  Improving transparency at the VA by requiring these quarterly reports will help ensure we are doing everything we can to give our veterans the care they deserve and will help policymakers and VA staff craft an appropriate response to help fix the problem.

The number one priority for all of us is to ensure that veterans receive the highest quality health care.  We do not want to see any more surgeries cancelled or delayed because of unsterile equipment, but if it does happen again we must know about it right away.  The VA Transparency Enhancement Act is a good government bill that represents a modest step to help improve confidence in our VA healthcare system.  By increasing transparency we can prevent bad outcomes for our veterans and identify problems at VA hospitals sooner.  Our responsibility as Members of Congress is to be a voice and advocate for veterans all across this country and serve our veterans as well as they have served us.

Thank you again for inviting me to testify before this committee on this critical legislation that will improve both transparency and patient care at the VA.  I thank the Chairman and Ranking Member for holding this important hearing and hope the committee will hold a markup on this legislation as soon as possible so it can proceed to the House floor.