WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, today called on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to use the recommendations from the Commission on Care report to help continue the department’s ongoing transformation since the wait-time scandal over two years ago.

“You cannot change an organization as large as the VA without outside help,” said Isakson. “Bringing health care experts and stakeholders together to assess the VA is key to transforming and innovating the VA. I thank the Commission for its hard work to make sure that the VA keeps moving forward in service to our veterans.”

The Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014, which was passed in the wake of the VA wait-time scandal, mandated a third-party assessment of the Veterans Health Administration and created a Commission on Care to use the outside assessment to provide the VA and Congress with recommendations to reform VA health care.

At a committee hearing held to assess the Commission’s final report, which includes 18 recommendations to reform VHA by improving access to care and transforming the VA workforce, Isakson remarked that many of the Commission’s recommendations were reflected in the Veterans First Act. Introduced by Isakson earlier this year, the Veterans First Act would increase accountability at the VA and improve veterans’ health care and benefits.

“This committee did outstanding work for over a year and a half on the Veterans First Act that is comprehensive and complete in its nature,” said Isakson. “We deal with the VA leadership’s ability to hire and fire. Because you have that accountability, it will flow from the bottom up because the top is being held accountable.”

Isakson also noted the importance of increasing veterans’ access to private sector providers in their own communities, a key recommendation from the Commission.

“In the Veterans First Act, which this committee passed out unanimously, by the provisions in there to allow the VA to enter into agreements with community providers, we’re expanding the opportunity for VA to make it possible for veterans to receive outside care,” said Isakson.

In addition, during this Congress, the committee has held oversight hearings on information technology, access to mental health care, medical center construction, the MyVA transformation, dissemination of best practices and VHA being placed on the Government Accountability Office’s High Risk List – all topics addressed by the Commission on Care’s report.

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The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is chaired by U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in the 114th Congress. Isakson is a veteran himself – having served in the Georgia Air National Guard from 1966-1972 – and has been a member of the Senate VA Committee since he joined the Senate in 2005. Isakson’s home state of Georgia is home to more than a dozen military installations representing each branch of the military as well as more than 750,000 veterans.