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Today, Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, (R-Iowa), the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health, delivered the following remarks, as prepared, at the start of the Subcommittee’s Oversight Hearing to examine varying VA clinician licensing standards across the United States:

Good morning. This oversight hearing for the Subcommittee on Health will now come to order.

I would like to start out by asking unanimous consent that Representative Scott be allowed to join our Subcommittee and be allowed to sit at the dais to participate in today’s proceedings.

Hearing no objection, so ordered.

As a 24-year Army veteran, physician, and former nurse I strongly believe that veterans deserve the utmost quality in care. I met my husband, a nurse, while we were both serving at Walter Reed.

Having served in these positions and as former Iowa Director of Public Health, I have a deep understanding of providing safe and effective care and it remains one of my top priorities in Congress to ensure veterans receive the same quality care as those that are seeking care in private hospitals. 

VA issued an interim final rule, known as the Federal Supremacy Initiative, in 2020. Through this Initiative, VA is working on establishing national standards for over 50 health care occupations, regardless of state scope of practice laws.

VA has stated that standardizing a set of services that health care providers can perform within the federal VA system would help when needing to transfer health care workers between different VA Medical Centers, depending on where care is needed most. While I don’t argue that that this would provide greater uniformity within VA, VA clinicians were able to move quickly throughout VA during the pandemic when critical needs rose in certain localities.

Although this interim final rule was published approximately two years ago, VA has not yet considered or opened up a comment period for a majority of health care occupations. It remains a concern to me and many other members on this committee that VA has not been clear and as engaged about some clinical specialties, specifically specialties that require a significant investment in training and practice to ensure patient safety.

It is imperative that VA is transparent about this process and standards, to avoid confusion among providers and patients especially when there are wide variances in state licensure laws.

During today’s hearing, I look forward to examining the process and development of these standards. Additionally, I am eager to better understand how these standards will affect patient care in the future.

I want to be clear, I am not here to play one profession against another. I have the upmost respect for every clinician who devotes their life to the care of veterans.

Thank you all for being here and I look forward to our discussion and hearing from multiple perspectives on both panels to discuss this important and timely topic.

With that, I yield to Ranking Member Brownley for her opening statement.