{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://herrerabeutler.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=388310", "Jaime Herrera Beutler Demands Truthful Explanation, Accountability and Action for VAs Absentee Mobile Medical Units", "2014-07-17", "2014", "2014-07", "Republican", "House", "WA", "Jaime Herrera Beutler", "H001056", "herrerabeutler.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Jaime Herrera Beutler today called on the local VA to explain the real reasons for why its mobile medical units are not serving rural veterans, and they are sitting unused for up to 25 days out of each month.\r\n          share:\r\n          f \r\n          t \r\n        \r\n      \r\n      Jaime Herrera Beutler today called on the local VA to explain the real reasons for why its mobile medical units are not serving rural veterans, and they are sitting unused for up to 25 days out of each month.\r\nJaime began requesting that the Puget Sound Region\u2019s mobile medical unit start serving rural veterans in Southwest Washington in 2012.\u00a0 These units are supposed to provide basic care, such as prescriptions and flu shots, to veterans in remote and rural areas.\u00a0\u00a0 \r\nSince then, the response from the VA\u2019s local unit has been a comedy of errors.\u00a0 At least, it would be a comedy if basic health care for rural veterans wasn't suffering as a result.\u00a0\r\nAs recently as last week, the Veteran Integrated Service Network (VISN) 20 \u2013 the VA\u2019s regional management unit \u2013 \u00a0had been issuing excuses to Jaime Herrera Beutler\u2019s office that conflicted with previous explanations.\u00a0 Some explanations were internal communications that appear to be sent unintentionally, and others were quickly recalled by the VA.\r\nVA: No idea how many units exist or how much they cost\u00a0 \r\nIn May, as a result of Herrera Beutler-authored legislation, the VA\u2019s Office of the Inspector General issued a report stating that the VA didn\u2019t know how many mobile medical units it possessed, how many veterans they had helped, or their operating costs.\u00a0 Even worse, the VA couldn\u2019t demonstrate whether the $29 million they have spent on mobile medical units had increased rural veterans' access to health care.\u00a0 Some units, such as the Puget Sound-area unit located in American Lake, sit unused for up to 25 days a month.\r\n\u201cCalling the management of these mobile medical units a mess would be an understatement,\u201d said Jaime.\u00a0 \u201cAt best, the VA\u2019s coordination of these units has been grossly incompetent.\u00a0 At worst, the conflicting excuses I\u2019ve been given for the lack of action suggest intentional manipulation of information.\u00a0 In light of the other issues the VA needs to address, I would hope it would finally respond to this problem with transparency and accountability. Instead, I\u2019ve seen the \u2018sweep the problems under the rug\u2019 approach continue.\u00a0  \u201cFor two years I\u2019ve been urging the VA to better utilize this resource, and this week, VA Acting Secretary Gibson pledged to deploy Mobile Medical Units to increase access to VA health care,\u201d Jaime continued.\u00a0 \u201cWhile I\u2019m hopeful that they will follow through on this promise, I\u2019m going to keep them accountable for identifying the real reasons these units are sitting idle and ways they can fully utilize them to get care to those veterans who need and deserve it.\u201d\r\n\u00a0\r\nTimeline of Jaime Herrera Beutler\u2019s efforts to get Mobile Medical Units deployed to Southwest Washington:\r\nNovember 2011 \u2013 At Jaime\u2019s Chehalis Veterans Resource Fair, a VA health care provider informed her about the Puget Sound mobile medical unit. The provider\u2019s request to take the mobile medical unit to a coastal community to administer flu immunizations had been denied.\u00a0\u00a0\r\nEarly 2012 \u2013 Jaime made inquiries to the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs, the VA Congressional Liaison, and then connected with Veteran Integrated Service Network (VISN) 20, WA, OR, ID, AK.\u00a0 \r\nJuly 2012 \u2013 Jaime sent a letter to VISN 20 Acting Director Michael Fisher asking for the mobile medical unit to come to rural areas in her district.\u00a0 \r\nAugust 2012 \u2013 Acting Director Fisher sent a formal letter response\u00a0citing staffing challenges and mechanical problems as the cause of the Puget Sound\u2019s mobile medical unit scarcely being utilized for 2.5 years.\r\nJanuary 2014 \u2013 Jaime\u2019s legislative provision requesting an independent report on mobile medical unit utilization, efficiency, and cost effectiveness is signed into law.\u00a0 \r\nMay 2014 \u2013 Report comes back with alarming findings. The VA didn\u2019t know how many mobile medical units it had, how many veterans were being served, or how much they cost to run. Jaime supported the improvement recommendations included in the report.\r\nJune 2014 \u2013 Jaime again requests to have the Puget Sound mobile medical unit serve rural communities in Southwest Washington. VISN 20 staff cites electronic health records not being able to interface as the reason it cannot serve the region. \r\nJune 2014 \u2013 Jaime wrote a letter to VA Acting Secretary Sloan Gibson regarding wait times and urged him to consider expanded use of mobile medical units.\u00a0 She also asked for the mobile medical unit to visit her district, and that she had been told the problem was that the electronic health systems not being able to interface.\u00a0 \r\nJuly 8, 2014 \u2013 VISN 20 staff accidentally sent internal working notes.\u00a0 An excerpt from the note, apparently instructing VA staff on how to construct the response: \r\n\u201cThe Congresswoman only wants to know why we can\u2019t send the MMU to Portland to help out, the reason it is too expensive and Puget Sound needs it up there and back that up with data.\u201d\r\nJuly 8, 2014 \u2013 VISN 20 recalls the previous message, and states via email \u201cIt is not too expensive.\u201d\r\nJuly 9, 2014 \u2013VISN 20 staff sends the July 9 communication, and states:\r\n1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is not an IT issue that prevents the MMU from treating veterans in our district, and any suggestion that it was was a miscommunication.\r\n2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That the Mobile Medical Unit has been consistently been deployed at full capacity. \r\nJuly 9, 2014 \u2013 VISN 20 staff recalls the prior communication.\r\nJuly 16, 2014 \u2013 VA News Release states \u201cVHA facilities are adding more clinic hours, aggressively recruiting to fill physician vacancies, deploying mobile medical units, using temporary staffing resources, and expanding the use of private sector care.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://herrerabeutler.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=388310"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8750970009714365, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}