Peace Garden News

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today announced that the U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) has extended for two years, the moratorium on burdensome and duplicative requirements for health care facilities, including long-term care (LTC) providers, serving veterans. The mandates, which come under DoL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), are duplicative of existing Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) standards, resulting in significantly increased costs and paperwork burdens for providers and discouraging them from caring for veterans. This limits veterans’ ability to access care in their home communities, particularly from nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other LTC providers.

Accordingly, Hoeven has been working to secure a permanent exemption for VA community providers and recently raised this priority with both Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough and DoL Acting Secretary Julie Su. The senator pressed for an extension of the moratorium until a permanent solution can be put in place, similar to the permanent OFCCP exemption that was established for TRICARE providers.

“Extending this moratorium for an additional two years is welcome news, providing a level of certainty and regulatory relief for providers who contract with the VA, while helping ensure veterans can access convenient and quality health care, including long-term care, closer to their home communities,” said Hoeven. “However, we need to make this exemption permanent, just as the Department of Labor did for TRICARE providers. We will continue to make this case to the administration, work to provide relief from these costly and duplicative contracting mandates and strengthen our veterans’ ability to utilize the benefits they have earned.” 

Hoeven secured a moratorium on the OFCCP regulations in 2020, following his work with the VA and the DoL under the Trump administration. The moratorium was set to expire this month, but in response to Hoeven’s efforts, DoL has extended the policy until May 7, 2025. 

Original source can be found here.