It gives me great pleasure to notify NAVREF members that in April Congress took the final steps necessary to pass NAVREF’s long-sought updates and clarifications of the NPC authorizing statute.  On Wednesday, April 21, the House passed the conference version of S. 1963, the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010.  The Senate joined the House in unanimously approving the bill on Thursday.  President Obama signed the bill as Public Law 111-163 on May 5, 2010.

S. 1963/PL 111-163 in its entirety, including the NPC provisions that comprise title VIII, is posted at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.1963:  To understand the impact of this legislation on NPCs, please go to the following linked documents:

1) The soon-to-be former NPC authorizing statute redlined to reflect the changes made by S. 1963

2) A clean version with the changes accepted 

3) A summary of the major changes and the section of the new statute in which each appears

Congressional reports on the legislation were filed as it made its way through the legislative process.  See:

H. Report 111-225

S. Report 111-60

For discussion of the rational for each change in the NPC authorizing statute proposed by NAVREF and ultimately accepted by Congress please click here.

For NAVREF testimony, click here

Enactment of this legislation comes more than three years after then Under Secretary for Health Michael Kussman, MD, encouraged NAVREF to pursue a thorough revision of the NPC authorizing statute.  This achievement represents many hours of painstaking work by the NAVREF board and staff to develop a package of changes to propose to Congress; numerous consultations with the VA Office of General Counsel and the Office of Research and Development; many meetings – some including NAVREF members - with staff and members of the House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs; testimony presented by NAVREF Chair Donna McCartney; statements for the record of various hearings; and innumerable letters sent at key times in the legislative process.  All of this effort has paid off in the remarkable achievement of accomplishing 100% of the objectives NAVREF sought in revising the statute. 

This week NAVREF will begin discussing with VA implementation of the new statute.  Some provisions – including those pertaining to approval of multi-medical center research corporations (MMCRCs) by the Secretary of VA - will require development of new VA processes.  Other provisions modify longstanding requirements – such as those that eliminate submission of statements certifying awareness of federal ethics rules and that raise the audit thresholds – so a determination will have to be made as to exactly when NPCs may discontinue practices made obsolete by S. 1963.  Also, we are uncertain how all of this may affect the content and publication schedule for the new version of Handbook 1200.17, which is currently undergoing VA concurrence. Please watch for updates as discussions with VA progress.

Caregiver and Other Provisions

Other provisions of S. 1963 contain important benefits for veterans, authorize medical facility construction projects, and address VA personnel matters.  The centerpiece of the legislation expands VA support for caregivers of seriously disabled veterans.  Caregivers of certain Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will be eligible for lodging and subsistence payments when accompanying patients for treatment.  They also will receive health care through CHAMPUS/VA, a monthly stipend and training in how to care for seriously injured veterans.  Additionally, the legislation requires VA to study barriers to care for female veterans and provides up to seven days of post-delivery health care to newborn babies of female veterans.  Another measure establishes a grant program for VSOs to provide transportation to veterans living in rural areas.

NAVREF is very pleased that the NPC provisions were included among so many other measures that will have a positive impact on the health and well-being of veterans and the delivery of VA care.