Ensure timely, best care at VA hospitals and clinics

AS Congress considers President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget request, there will be countless hours of debate over the growth of federal spending. The president has proposed a strong, $5.4 billion increase for veterans' health, which should be enough to meet the expected health-care needs of America's veterans next year — including almost 650,000 who live in Washington.

However, an adequate budget only goes so far to help the Department of Veterans Affairs: Congress must enact legislation to reform the agency's health-care funding system in order to keep our promise to veterans.

As former Veterans hospital directors in Washington state, we know well the challenge of managing the nation's largest health-care system when, year after year, we didn't know what level of funding we would receive or when it would arrive. In fact, the VA's budget has been late in 19 of the past 22 years. Delays in funding have had a direct impact on the care our veterans receive, as VA has found it more difficult to hire health-care professionals, order supplies and maintain medical facilities.

President Obama made a promise on the campaign trail to ensure the VA gets its budget on time by requesting advance appropriations, something he also supported as a senator and publicly reaffirmed his support on April 9. Simply put, advance appropriations would allow Congress to decide how much money to allocate to veterans health care, but that would be done one year before VA needs those funds. While the actual dollars would not flow until the start of each new fiscal year, it would allow VA administrators and directors sufficient time to properly plan how best to use the money.

Last month, a bipartisan coalition of senators and representatives introduced the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act — legislation that would authorize advance appropriations for veterans medical-care programs. Congress already provides advance appropriations for a number of programs, including Head Start, Job Corps and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Fulfilling our nation's promise to care for our veterans should be just as important.

With more than 50 years of combined service at VA facilities, we have seen firsthand the impact that late or insufficient budgets have on the level of service and quality of care at VA facilities. Unable to hire new personnel without a budget in place, Washington's five VA medical centers and 16 clinical facilities, outpatient clinics and Vet Centers often ended up being short-staffed, causing delays in scheduling appointments, longer waiting times to see medical personnel and shorter visits with health-care providers.

Late budgets also meant that VA medical facilities were not always able to acquire new technology or equipment when needed and routine building maintenance was often delayed. For example, purchases of state-of-the-art radiology and imaging machines were put on hold when budgets were not passed, forcing health-care professionals to make do with outdated equipment.

More important, access to newer and better technologies that might have improved patient diagnoses and made surgeries less invasive was delayed. Personnel shortages could be prevented, new equipment purchased and building maintenance projects completed efficiently if Congress simply delivers the VA's budget on time every year.

The health care our nation's veterans receive should never be compromised because of partisan gridlock or budget train wrecks. Congress needs to take the politics out of veterans' health care for good by ensuring sufficient, timely and predictable funding through advance appropriations. President Obama promised it; Congress must do its part: Pass the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act this year.