Opening Statements

Today, Rep. Trent Kelly (R-MS), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, on the Subcommittee's hearing on military health system reform:

"Thank you, Chairwoman Speier.

"I want to welcome our witnesses to today's hearing and thank you for your service to our servicemembers and their families.

"The military health system is one of the largest health care systems in the world, and you all have the critical mission of providing care to one of the most venerated segments of the US population: our service members, veterans and their families. We hold the military health system to a higher standard than civilian healthcare given your important mission, and I know that you share that commitment.

"That is why this committee has worked continuously with the Department of Defense to ensure that our military health system has the resources and systems in place to provide exceptional healthcare. The 2017 Military Health System Reforms are an integral part of improving healthcare delivery. The primary goal of that reform effort was to improve medical readiness, standardize patient experience in military medical treatment facilities, and where possible, improve efficiency.

"I am encouraged by the progress that DOD and the Services have made in implementing these reforms, but there remain several areas of concern. In particular, I am very concerned with the Department's current efforts to restructure and realign military treatment facilities, commonly known as Section 703 implementation. I believe that the Department may be viewing this as a cost-saving exercise, when the actual purpose is to improve efficiency and healthcare quality. It is crucial that prior to any reductions in MTF services that DOD fully understand the civilian network capability to absorb those patients. In our visits to military installations around the country, I can tell you that many civilian healthcare networks are over-saturated and will not be able to absorb more patients. I look forward to hearing what analysis has been done regarding network adequacy in preparation for any MTF realignment.

"I am also very concerned about the planned reduction in military healthcare billets. The services have identified over 17,000 healthcare billets for elimination. While some of these positions are purely administrative in nature, many of them are medical professional billets. At nearly every military installation I have visited, one of the chief complaints regarding healthcare is that patients must wait weeks in order to get an appointment. This is unacceptable, and I am concerned that further personnel reductions will make the problem worse. I would like to hear more about what analysis was done to support these reductions.

"Finally, I am very concerned about the state of behavioral health care in the military. I have repeatedly heard from medical providers, service members and their families about chronic staffing shortages and long wait times for appointments. Meanwhile, the rates of suicide in the military continue to increase. I understand that this is a national problem, but I want to know what the services and the Defense Health Agency are doing to fix this problem for the military. In a recent report, each of the services said that the number one recruiting challenge for behavioral health providers is low pay and a lengthy hiring process. So, now that you have identified the problem, what specific authorities do you need in order to fix it?

"I want to thank our witnesses for their considerable efforts to improve healthcare and institute the military health system reforms. I look forward to a robust discussion that is focused on readiness and quality care.

"Thank you and I yield back."