House Veterans' Committee OKs telehealth prescription authority amid heated debate over VA telework
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Summary
The House Veterans' Affairs Committee voted to advance HR 1107 to allow VA clinicians to prescribe medications by telemedicine, while rejecting multiple minority amendments that sought to reinstate remote-work agreements for VA clinicians affected by the administration's return-to-office order.
The House Committee on Veterans' Affairs advanced HR 1107, the Protect Veterans' Access to Telemedicine Services Act, after the panel voted to report the bill favorably to the House. The bill would amend title 38 to make permanent authority for VA clinicians to prescribe medications via telehealth, an authority the VA temporarily used during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Supporters said telemedicine expands access to care for rural, elderly and disabled veterans and preserves important continuity of services. Representative Berkman, speaking for the bill’s supporters, said the legislation restores prescriptions by telehealth that otherwise would expire at year’s end. He and other supporters pointed to examples where telehealth helped keep care accessible during and after the pandemic.
Opponents focused their remarks on the VA’s separate decision to end many telework arrangements after the administration’s January 20, 2025, return-to-office directive. Representatives Takano, Conaway, Ramirez and Morrison offered a series of amendments to HR 1107 that would have reinstated telework or remote-work agreements for specific groups of VA employees (psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, clinical resource hub staff, member services and community care coordinators). Supporters of those amendments cited photos and testimony alleging crowded workspaces that risk patient privacy and interfere with confidential mental-health visits.
The committee rejected the minority amendments. Chair Bost and other majority members argued that the telemedicine bill concerns veterans’ access to clinical care while telework policy concerns personnel management; they said the telework proposals were outside the scope of HR 1107 and risked delaying the bill. Multiple members requested recorded votes; votes were postponed and then resolved during roll-call sequences called later in the markup. The committee then voted to report HR 1107 as amended to the full House.
Discussion vs. decisions: the hearing record shows extensive policy debate (telemedicine authority, patient privacy, clinical resource hubs) and multiple formal roll-call actions (amendment votes, recorded vote requests, and a final committee vote to report HR 1107 favorably). Several members reserved the right to file minority views. The committee did not adopt the minority telework amendments; the underlying bill advanced.
Looking ahead, the bill will go to the full House, and committee members said they expect continued oversight attention to VA implementation of telehealth and any space/privacy problems at local VA facilities.