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Senate committee hears Matthew Fast Act to screen and flag veterans in civilian health care
Summary
Senate Bill 740 would require Maryland health-care facilities to identify veterans, service members and their families as a vulnerable population for screening and data collection, the sponsor said, to catch service-related conditions earlier in civilian care settings.
Senate Bill 740, the Sergeant First Class Matthew Fast Act, would require Maryland health-care facilities to systematically identify and respond to the needs of veterans, service members and their families in civilian health-care settings.
Sen. William Foulden (presenting) described the measure as a response to a preventable loss: his testimony said Matthew Fast, who served in the military and later as a police officer, died at age 29 from an undetected heart condition that the sponsor tied to military exposures. Foulden and Jessica Fast, Matthew's widow, told the committee that a single screening question — “Have you served?” — could prompt clinicians treating veterans in civilian settings to follow up on service-related exposures and exposures that may raise risks for heart disease, respiratory illness, certain cancers or other long-term conditions.
Foulden and Jessica Fast framed the bill as low-cost and straightforward: they said most veterans receive civilian care (one speaker said over 80% do some or all of their care outside the VA) and that identifying a patient as a member of the 'warrior community' in medical records could allow civilian clinicians to consider potential exposures and order appropriate testing earlier. They described the bill as designating the warrior community (active duty, National Guard, reservists, veterans, and families) as a vulnerable population for screening purposes.
Committee members sought details about existing discharge screenings, whether records follow service members into civilian care, and the availability of screening protocols and education for clinicians. Witnesses said VA records are often difficult to obtain and that training and protocol development are part of a 'wish list' for broader implementation; sponsors said the bill as written would avoid a fiscal note by limiting the measure to asking clinicians to ask the question and record it in the patient record rather than creating an expansive data-collection program.
No formal vote was recorded in the hearing. The department of health and other veterans' organizations were not present in the transcript; sponsors said they would reach out to the Maryland Veterans Administration and the Veterans Caucus for further collaboration.
