VA National Standards of Practice
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently affirmed its right under the U.S. Constitution to allow VA health care professionals to deliver health care services in a state other than the health care professional's state of licensure, registration, certification, or other state requirement, and to establish national standards of practice for its health care professionals. To that end, VA leadership, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and VHA program offices are working to develop these national standards of practice.
The VA national standards of practice will be a standardized set of services that all health care professionals in a given occupation can perform if their facility performs such services and they have the proper education, training and skill.
VA national standards of practice will be published as an appendix to VHA Directive 1900, VA National Standards of Practice. VHA Directive 1900 establishes basic principles that apply across all national standards of practice, including oversight, reporting, and implementation.
This effort will support VA's authority to deliver health care seamlessly across the system: a requirement highlighted by the COVID-19 crisis.
Establishing National Standards of Practice allows VA to:
- Ensure safe, high-quality care for the Nation's Veterans.
- Standardize the practice of each health care occupation irrespective of state requirements.
- More efficiently allocate resources to support organizational missions to include national disasters and pandemics.
- Protect VA health care professionals against adverse state actions.
- Leverage a modernized, mobile workforce to support rural areas and crisis response.
