At a hearing of the House Veterans Affairs Health Subcommittee in late MAR representatives of the Department of
Veterans Affairs explained how the VA plans to manage an overhaul of the VA’s new Choice Program. According to
an article on Federal News Radio.com, the VA wants to “let veterans choose whether they want to access a VA medical
center or a private sector provider in the community for care. If the veteran chooses community care, he or she can
pick a VA-approved provider from the network list.” The VA would organize a list of providers into three tiers:
• The first tier would consist of VA medical centers, DoD medical facilities, Indian Health Service medical
facilities, Tribal health programs and federally qualified health center providers.
• The second tier would be community health care providers which will have been rated by the VA as the top in the quality of the health care they give.
• The third tier would be other community health care providers who would meet standard VA criteria.
