Healthcare Roundup—Wilkie teases new VA access standards; Providers less likely to take new Medicaid patients

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie released a statement Monday promising a plan that would "revolutionize VA health care" as part of the VA's implementation of the MISSION Act. Just don't call it privatization, he said. Wilkie said the department is preparing to introduce access standards on community care and urgent care to take effect in June and guide when Veterans can seek care to meet their needs in VA and community facilities, calling the VA’s patchwork of seven separate community care programs "a bureaucratic maze." "Although these new standards represent an important win for America’s Veterans, they will not be without controversy," Wilkie said. "Some will claim falsely and predictably that they represent a first step toward privatizing the department."