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House subcommittee: scheduling software cuts booking time but remains limited to a fraction of VA sites
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Summary
Witnesses told the House Veterans Affairs subcommittee that the External Provider Scheduling (EPS) tool reduces time to book community-care appointments but is active at only a fraction of VA medical centers; witnesses and members flagged provider enrollment, staff readiness, and security integration as remaining barriers to national rollout.
The House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization heard testimony May 5 on the Department of Veterans Affairs' External Provider Scheduling program, or EPS, with VA and contractor witnesses saying the technology can shorten appointment scheduling but has been adopted at only a portion of VA medical centers.
"EPS allows VA staff to schedule veterans directly into available Community Care Provider appointment slots through a single user interface," said Dr. Lisa Arfons, acting deputy assistant undersecretary for health for integrated veteran care at the VA. "By providing detailed information on who, where, how, and when care is available, EPS helps veterans make timely and informed decisions about their health care."
The program's potential is already measurable where it is used, witnesses said. VA testimony to the panel said community-care referrals have grown in recent years; Dr. Arfons said that as of March the VA had provided more than 39.6 million community-care referrals to more than 5.4 million veterans since enactment of the Mission Act. VA and vendor witnesses described faster scheduling times in pilot and live sites: WellHive and VA said the average scheduling time using EPS is roughly seven minutes, and VA told the committee referrals scheduled by traditional means took on average about 33 days whereas referrals processed at sites using EPS moved toward 25 days.
"The average time to schedule an appointment using EPS is 7 minutes," said Chris Farajii, president of WellHive, which holds the EPS contract. "We're seeing up to 4 times increase in productivity for VA staff using the program, even without critical integrations in the VA systems."
Panel members pressed how many sites and providers are live. Dr. Arfons said EPS expanded from 16 sites last fall to 36 sites and that 18 more medical centers were scheduled to go live by the end of the fiscal year; she also said there were roughly 6,000 provider services active in EPS across 62 specialties as of May 1. Members quoted other figures from witnesses about provider counts and month-over-month growth; Farajii told the panel that active provider services had increased about 21% month over month and that provider participation has been rising.
Members and witnesses described practical barriers slowing broader adoption: provider enrollment and onboarding, varying local VA readiness, the need for change management and training, and security and system integrations that are not yet complete. "Provider participation is absolutely critical," Chairman Barrett said in opening remarks. "EPS is only active at about 20% of VA medical hospitals" in earlier testimony from the dais, and he warned that weak leadership could let the initiative "wither on the vine."
Committee members repeatedly asked whether VA could speed a national rollout and whether the department or local centers control the timeline. Dr. Arfons said VA has focused rollout regionally and by Veterans Integrated Service Network to align VA staff readiness with provider network readiness and that GO-LIVE planning balances both sides to avoid misalignment that could undermine adoption.
The committee also addressed integration and data flow. Farajii said WellHive had completed FedRAMP High assessment activities and submitted its security package to VA; he told the subcommittee that once security and integration are complete, WellHive intends to include the referral package with the scheduled appointment so community providers receive the documentation electronically instead of by fax.
No formal policy vote occurred during the hearing. Members, including the ranking member, urged continuing oversight and asked VA to expand EPS and to collect and report additional quality and timeliness metrics that would allow veterans to compare VA and community-care options.
The hearing record contains written statements from Dr. Arfons, Mr. Farajii and Mr. Jed Hansen and an extended question-and-answer period with committee members. The witnesses said they will continue onboarding providers and sites and work with the committee and VA leadership to expand the program.
