FACACLASSIC

Note: An Annual Comprehensive Review, as required by §7 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, is conducted each year on committee data entered for the previous fiscal year (referred to as the reporting year). The data for the reporting year is not considered verified until this review is complete and the data is moved to history for an agency/department. See the Data From Previous Years section at the bottom of this page for the committee’s historical, verified data.

Details on agency responses to committee recommendations can be found under the Performance Measures section for each committee in the fields “Agency Feedback” and “Agency Feedback Comment.”

VA - 1351 - Special Medical Advisory Group - Statutory (Congress Created)

GENERAL INFORMATION

Committee Name	Special Medical Advisory Group	Agency Name	Department of Veterans Affairs
Fiscal Year	2025	Committee Number	1351
Original Establishment Date	1/1/1945	Committee Status	Chartered
Actual Termination Date		Committee URL	https://www.va.gov/ADVISORY/Special_Medical_Adv...
Actual Merged Date		Presidential Appointments*	No
New Committee This FY	No	Max Number of Members*	22
Terminated This FY	No	Designated Fed Officer Position Title*	Administrative Officer, VHA Office of the Chief of Staff
Merged This FY		Designated Federal Officer Prefix	Mr.
Current Charter Date	7/8/2025	Designated Federal Officer First Name*	Brian
Date Of Renewal Charter	7/8/2027	Designated Federal Officer Middle Name
Projected Termination Date		Designated Federal Officer Last Name*	Schoenhofer
Exempt From Renewal*	No	Designated Federal Officer Suffix
Specific Termination Authority		Designated Federal Officer Phone*	(785) 817-2529
Establishment Authority*	Statutory (Congress Created)	Designated Federal Officer Fax*
Specific Establishment Authority*	38 U.S.C. 7312	Designated Federal Officer Email*	brian.schoenhofer@va.gov
Effective Date Of Authority*	1/1/1945
Exempt From EO 13875 Discretionary Cmte	Not Applicable
Committee Type*	Continuing
Presidential*	No
Committee Function*	National Policy Issue Advisory Board

RECOMMENDATION/JUSTIFICATIONS

Agency Recommendation*	Continue
Legislation to Terminate Required	Not Applicable
Legislation Status	Not Applicable
How does cmte accomplish its purpose?*	The Committee primarily advises and provides consultation to the Secretary (SECVA) and Under Secretary (USH) on various matters relating to the statutory mission of care and treatment of disabled Veterans and other matters pertinent to the Veterans Health Administration such as research, education and training, and VA's role in support of DoD and DHS contingency planning. The Committee considers emerging health care trends to make recommendations to VA as VA embarks on improving systems, rebuilding trust of Veterans and the American People, and continuing to be a learning organization. The Committee reviews extensive documents prior to the meetings and comes prepared to have an in-depth discussion and provide real-time feedback to the presenters, USH/SECVA, and available VHA senior leaders and program managers. This year, SMAG reviewed matters related to VA's Strategic Goal #1 to consistently communicate with its customers and partners to assess and maximize performance, evaluate needs and build long-term relationships and trust; Goal #2 to deliver timely, accessible and high-quality benefits, care and services to meet the unique needs of Veterans and all those we serve; Goal #3 to build and maintain trust with Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors—as well as our employees and partners—through proven stewardship, transparency and accountability; and Goal #4 to strive toward excellence in all business operations—including governance, systems, data and management—to improve experiences, satisfaction rates, accountability and security for Veterans. In particular, priority agenda topics that were collaboratively discussed would include, but not be limited to leveraging artificial intelligence in healthcare, VA's EHRM progress, including plans to restart deployments of the Federal EHR, community care impact, tele-urgent/emergency care, and in-house access strategies.
How is membership balanced?*	The Committee has several statutory members, to include representatives from the medical, optometric, podiatric, allied health professions and a disabled Veteran, as well as other individuals considered by the USH. The additional members bring expertise in the areas of mental health, clinical quality, measurement and metrics, academic partnerships, research and leaders of large private sector healthcare organizations. Members offer the perspective of their professional disciplines, professional affiliations, unique ethnicities corresponding to established Veteran population constituencies, and the geographic areas from which they come. To better ensure the diversity of the health professions and clinical expertise, we increased membership capacity to 22 and are continuing to work towards recruiting & ultimately filling all available vacancies to better ensure SMAG's comprehensive contributions towards the agency mission. We always welcome members of various race, gender, and ethnic backgrounds.
How frequent & relevant are cmte mtgs?*	The Committee historically meets twice a year in-person with virtual meetings if needed. This year, the spring and fall meetings, May 1-2, 2024, and September 25-26, 2024, were held in person with the option for attendees to attend virtually due to outside requirements. The committee members provide guidance and advice to the Under Secretary for Health and the Secretary on current matters of importance to VA and to the health care of our Veterans to include, but not limited to: Addressing VHA Community Care Spending and Access Strategies, Leveraging Digital Health, Soonest & Best Care Actions, Artificial Intelligence Tech Sprints, Reducing Administrative Burdens on VA Providers, Nursing Infrastructure, VA's EHRM progress, including plans to restart deployments of the Federal EHR, Tele-Urgent/Emergent Care, and Lessons Learned for Effects of Long-COVID. The Committee members are senior and distinguished individuals in the field who are leaders within their professions. Therefore, their advice is carefully considered by the Under Secretary and Secretary.
Why advice can't be obtained elsewhere?*	The members of the SMAG are highly regarded experts in their field with experience leading large healthcare organizations. The majority are non-government employees, therefore, their experience in the private sector is pivotal as the VA is expanding services in the community and modernizing to confirm to best practices in the private sector.
Why close or partially close meetings?	N/A. During this fiscal year, no portion of any planned meetings were closed to the public under the exemptions of the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. Sec. 552(b)(c)).
Recommendation Remarks	The committee provided verbal feedback during several topic discussions to VA leaders at the spring and fall meetings.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES

Outcome Improvement To Health Or Safety*	Yes	Action Reorganize Priorities*	No
Outcome Trust In Government	Yes	Action Reallocate Resources	No
Outcome Major Policy Changes	Yes	Action Issued New Regulations	No
Outcome Advance In Scientific Research	No	Action Proposed Legislation	No
Outcome Effective Grant Making	No	Action Approved Grants Or Other Payments	No
Outcome Improved Service Delivery	Yes	Action Other	No
Outcome Increased Customer Satisfaction	Yes	Action Comment	N/A
Outcome Implement Laws/Reg Requirements	No	Grants Review*	No
Outcome Other	No	Number Of Grants Reviewed	0
Outcome Comment	N/A	Number Of Grants Recommended	0
Cost Savings*	None	Dollar Value Of Grants Recommended	$0.00
Cost Savings Comment	N/A	Grants Review Comment	N/A
Number Of Recommendations*	64	Access Contact Designated Fed. Officer*	Yes
Number Of Recommendations Comment	The recommendations are from 1945 through FY 2024. The Veterans Health Administration reviews the recommendations and rationale and implements as appropriate.	Access Agency Website	Yes
% of Recs Fully Implemented*	92.00%	Access Committee Website	Yes
% of Recs Fully Implemented Comment		Access GSA FACA Website	Yes
% of Recs Partially Implemented*	8.00%	Access Publications	No
% of Recs Partially Implemented Comment	Approximately 5 recommendations from the 2018 report remain in progress with plans in place to reach completion within the next 1-2 fiscal years. SMAG DFO/ADFO continues to work with respective enterprise action plan leads to determine recommendation(s) closure statuses associated with major VISN/VAMC(s) restructuring programs & resources.	Access Other	No
Agency Feedback*	Yes	Access Comment	N/A
Agency Feedback Comment*	Formal correspondence occurs to, from and through the SMAG chair, SMAG members, VHA and VA Secretary and back. The public can attain more information on agency feedback by visiting https://www.va.gov/ADVISORY/Special_Medical_Advisory_Group_Statutory.asp. In addition, the general public may e-mail questions to the SMAG Designated Federal Officer at VASMAGDFO@va.gov.	Narrative Description*	The Committee provides advice to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Under Secretary for Health on matters relating to the care and treatment of Veterans and other matters pertinent to the operations of the Veterans Health Administration (e.g., research, education and training, resources, information technology, quality and safety of care, costs, and VA/DoD contingency planning).

COSTS

1. Payments to Non-Federal Members*		1. Est Paymnts to Non-Fed Membrs Nxt FY*
2. Payments to Federal Members*		2. Est. Payments to Fed Members Next FY*
3. Payments to Federal Staff*		3. Estimated Payments to Federal Staff*
4. Payments to Consultants*		4. Est. Payments to Consultants Next FY*
5. Travel Reimb. For Non-Federal Membrs*		5. Est Travel Reimb Non-Fed Membr nxtFY*
6. Travel Reimb. For Federal Members*		6. Est Travel Reimb For Fed Members*
7. Travel Reimb. For Federal Staff*		7. Est. Travel Reimb to Fed Staf Nxt FY*
8. Travel Reimb. For Consultants*		8. Est Travel Reimb to Consltnts Nxt FY*
10. Other Costs		10. Est. Other Costs Next FY*
11. Total Costs	$0.00	11. Est. Total Next FY*	$0.00
Date Cost Last Modified	2/19/2025 9:23 AM	Est. Fed Staff Support Next FY*
Federal Staff Support (FTE)*		Est Cost Remarks
Cost Remarks

Interest Areas

Category Area Computer Technology Artificial Intelligence Technology Data Data Integrity Data Quality Emergency Emergency Preparedness and Management Federal Employment Federal Employees and Personnel Finance Investment Food and Drugs Medical Devices Government Federal Government Internal Federal Government Tribal Government Health Aging Health Care Hospitals Medical Practitioners Public Health Treatment Labor Employment Job Training Labor Occupational Safety and Health Workforce and Occupations Medicine Diseases Health and Health Research Illnesses Medicine and Dentistry Rehabilitation Rehabilitation and Disability Research Research and Development Veterans Veterans and Veterans' Medical Care

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