Comment on AO15-Proposed Rule-O'Neil, Laura M.

This rule needs to be passed. We recently lost a native person from Frankfort to Manhattan that required skilled care because they had a VA contract. The resident was able to reside here only 14 days before we had to transfer him to Manhattan. His family lives here as well and is now going to travel an hour to see him. In addition he had to change primary care doctors because of this. We tried to work with VA regarding this to keep him here but obtaining a VA contract is very time consuming and VA was not too interested in pursing a contract with us. We are a 5 star faciltiy with excellent surveys. This is not the first time we have been unable to take a VA resident for skilled Medicare care because of this issue. Please pass this ruling.