[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 158 (Tuesday, November 4, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2209-E2210]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        VETERANS HEALTH CARE FACILITIES CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. JOEL HEFLEY

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 29, 2003

  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1720, the 
Veterans Health Care Facilities Capital Improvement Act, a two-year 
authorization bill that will authorize the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs to carry out major medical facility construction projects to 
improve, renovate, replace, update or establish patient care facilities 
of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  In addition to authorizing $168 million for fiscal year 2004 and $600 
million for fiscal year 2005 for construction of undesignated major 
projects, H.R. 1720 also authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
to carry out a major medical facility project at the former Fitzsimons 
Army Medical Center site in Aurora, Colorado. H.R. 1720 would authorize 
this project to be carried out using a total appropriation of $300 
million.
  Mr. Speaker, since the end of World War II, the Veterans Medical 
Center in Denver and the University of Colorado hospitals have shared 
expensive and specialized medical equipment and facilities, such as 
surgical suites and imaging equipment. This partnership has also 
included the sharing of expensive specialty diagnostics and medical 
treatments.
  Due to the lack of space, inability to renovate or construct newer 
facilities and the cost associated with continuing to use the site, the 
University of Colorado Hospital moved its campus in 1995 to the former 
Fitzsimons Army Medical Center. This site is four and one half times 
the size of the existing campus and provides the school with a new 
medical complex for the 21st century.
  As the University completes its move to Fitzsimons, a state of the 
art medical campus will be developed and many of the very best services 
in the United States will be available. For example, the Anschutz 
Cancer Pavilion, which is already open, is among the best institutions 
in the nation for all types of cancer treatment and research. In 
addition, the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center is well 
known throughout the country for its organ transplant programs.
  While the move to the Fitzsimons site solved existing problems and 
provided future advantages for the University of Colorado Hospital, it 
unfortunately separated the Denver Veterans Medical Center from both 
the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and the University of 
Colorado Hospital by eight miles. While the University of Colorado 
Hospital and the Veterans Medical Center continue to share medical 
resources, this eight mile separation creates a very real and 
significant barrier to quality care for veterans who receive their care 
at the Denver Veterans Medical Center.
  Compounding this problem, a recent study commissioned by the Veterans 
Integrated Service Network (VISN) 19 indicated that high demand for 
medical services by veterans at the Denver Veterans Medical Center will 
continue unabated for the next 20 years. The cost of maintaining the 
current Denver Veterans Medical Center to satisfy minimal accreditation 
levels until 2020 has been estimated to be $233 million, and estimates 
to rebuild the facility in 2020 are $377 million in today's dollars.
  Planning studies have shown that a move of the Denver Veterans 
Medical Center to the Fitzsimons campus is the most cost effective of 
the reasonably acceptable alternatives. Passage of H.R. 1720 will allow 
the Denver Veterans Medical Center to relocate to the Fitzsimons site 
and enjoy many of the same opportunities as the University of Colorado 
Health Sciences Center enjoys now. This will include, but is not 
limited to, solving aging facilities issues, capping new facilities 
cost, enhancing quality of medical care, increasing flexibility and 
reducing operational costs.
  Veterans who have highly specialized medical needs must have easy 
access to the best diagnostic and treatment programs that America 
provides. In a medical school environment doctors tend to be better 
informed of the latest treatment procedures and protocols. They are 
closer to the ``cutting edge'' of modern medicine. Quality of medical 
care for veterans is enhanced in a medical school teaching hospital.
  University physicians in specialty residency programs provide a 
significant amount of care in the Denver Veterans Medical Center. To 
date some 90 percent of the physicians that work at the VA Medical 
Center also work at University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and 
most VA doctors have faculty appointments in the Medical School. Co-
locating the University of Colorado Hospital with the Denver Veterans 
Medical Center will allow University doctors to continue their close 
relationship in treating veterans. Not allowing the Denver Veterans 
Medical Center to move to the Fitzsimons campus is simply unacceptable 
and it would not be in the best interest of high quality patient care 
veterans deserve to abandon this partnership of over fifty years.
  The new VA Medical Center at Fitzsimons site will be veteran-friendly 
and will provide a practicable alternative to the Denver Veterans 
Medical Center remaining at its current, out-dated facility. The new 
Veterans Medical Center at Fitzsimons will be a free-standing 
ambulatory and inpatient care federal tower building for veterans, 
clearly identified as the Veterans Administration Medical Center with 
its own nearby parking. New veterans research facilities will be 
constructed and there will be a new veterans long-term care unit 
located next to the new 180-bed State veterans nursing home currently 
being constructed at the site.
  This project has another group of potential beneficiaries, as well. 
The Department of Defense will likely construct a military treatment 
facility to meet the needs of Buckley Air Force Base. One attractive 
solution will be to meet the Buckley Air Force Base's military 
treatment facility requirements by participating in joint construction 
of a joint Denver Veterans Medical Center and a Department of Defense 
facility at Fitzsimons. The Air Force, as well as the Department of 
Defense, find this partnership to be in its long term interest. For 
this reason, the House-passed Fiscal Year 2004

[[Page E2210]]

National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) included $4 million for the 
Department of Defense's portion of the design and planning phase of its 
military treatment facility.
  Additionally, recognizing the importance of cost savings and other 
efficiencies, the FY04 NDAA included report language directing that the 
Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs make every 
effort to share health care facilities. I have included this report 
language below:

  Title XXIV: Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs HealthCare 
                                Sharing

       The committee continues to believe that significant 
     efficiencies are possible if the Department of Defense and 
     the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) share health care 
     facilities. However, the Department and VA operate only 7 
     joint ventures, even though the 2 departments operate 
     approximately 240 hospitals. Such incremental progress is 
     representative of the significant bureaucratic challenges 
     facing the health care sharing effort. Nevertheless, the 
     committee believes that the Department and VA should take 
     advantage of health care sharing opportunities whenever 
     possible.
       The committee understands that the Colorado University 
     School of Medicine has begun relocation to the site of the 
     closed Fitzsimons Army Hospital. The Department of Veterans 
     Affairs is currently considering replacement of the Denver VA 
     Medical Center, a 50-year-old structure now co-located with 
     the Colorado medical school, as a part of that relocation. 
     The committee understands that the Department is also 
     considering participation in the VA Medical Center's new 
     facility. As such, the committee believes that the Department 
     of Defense should participate in design and construction of 
     this facility, which would provide ambulatory and acute care 
     medical services to military personnel attached to Buckley 
     Air Force Base. Such an approach would allow the Department 
     to leverage construction, operations, and maintenance costs 
     of a joint facility with VA, and eliminate the Department's 
     need to construct an additional medical treatment facility at 
     Buckley Air Force Base. In this particular case, a joint 
     facility would further benefit by sharing significant assets 
     with the Colorado University School of Medicine Facility, 
     resulting in further savings.

  With the expectation that the Departments of Defense and Veterans 
Affairs will reach an agreement on sharing design and construction 
costs at levels representative of their medical requirements, the 
committee recommends authorization of $4,000,000 for planning and 
design of a DOD-VA medical treatment facility at the site of the closed 
Fitzsimons Army Hospital.
  The funds included in the House-passed FY04 NDAA are a critical step 
toward ensuring that the VA and the DOD leverage their resources 
through joint projects that meet both of their requirements. 
Constructing a VA-DOD facility at Fitzsimons will serve as a model for 
future efforts to serve the medical needs of America's service members 
and veterans alike. And, I would like to point out that inpatient care 
for the veterans and the DOD will be located in the same federal tower 
as the veterans ambulatory care, but will be connected to the 
University of Colorado Hospital to share expensive facilities such as 
operating rooms and medical imaging.
  Mr. Speaker, given the rising demand for veterans' health care, and 
the significant challenges of an aging and increasingly less-efficient 
Denver Veterans Medical Center facility, my interest and my efforts are 
aimed at continuing the collaboration between the Denver Veterans 
Medical Center, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and 
University of Colorado Hospital. I believe that the opportunity to 
locate the Denver Veterans Medical Center with the University of 
Colorado Health Sciences Center and the University of Colorado Hospital 
at the Fitzsimons campus will meet the demand for veteran care in the 
VISN 19 area through 2020 and beyond; provide significant savings in 
both capital and operational costs for the Department of Veterans 
Affairs and the taxpayer; continue to meet the Denver Veterans Medical 
Center commitment to education and research; and potentially create a 
national model for the future of veterans' care dealing with both a new 
concept for facilities and collaboration with long-established 
partners. More importantly, this move will retain veteran ``identity'' 
while also providing optimum patient care:
  To date, over 45 local, state and national Veterans' Service 
Organizations and the American Federation of Government Employees, 
Local 2241, have expressed their support for this proposal. We stand 
committed in the goal of providing the utmost modern, comprehensive and 
cost-efficient medical care that we as a nation owe our veterans. And I 
believe that co-locating the Denver Veterans' Medical Center with the 
University of Colorado Hospital will achieve these goals.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress has a duty to provide the best medical care it 
can to our nation's veterans and we must always strive for the very 
best health care services it can by utilizing the most cost-effective 
measures available. The fact is, aging facilities, lack of funds, and 
the growing demands on the veterans health system are proving to be 
daunting obstacles in meeting Congress' responsibilities to our 
nation's veterans. However, the possibility for the Denver Veterans 
Medical Center to move to Fitzsimons and co-locate with University of 
Colorado Health Sciences Center and University of Colorado Hospital is 
a unique opportunity to provide solid and constructive solutions to 
these challenges.

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