In a set of recommendations released March 14, the Department of Veterans Affairs called for several changes in its facilities and infrastructure, including an increase in ASCs.
The VA recommended nearly doubling its ASCs from 16 to 30, Federal News Network reported March 14. They are each housed in larger facilities that provide primary care, mental healthcare and other outpatient specialty services.
The recommendations will be reviewed by the Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission, which has not yet been formed. The AIR Commission will then submit its own recommendations to President Joe Biden by the end of January 2023, and he will have until Feb. 15, 2023, to decide whether or not to approve the commission's recommendations.
With a growing demand for outpatient services among veterans, VA Secretary Denis McDonough said that under the VA's recommendations, the number of multispecialty community-based outpatient VA clinics would increase from 248 to 388.
Access would increase overall, Mr. McDonough said, according to the report. Nearly 150,000 more veterans would have access to primary care within a 30 minute drive, and more than 375,000 veterans would have specialty care within an hour's drive.