House and Senate lawmakers reached a deal over the weekend to fix the unstable and inefficient health care program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (V.A.), people familiar with the matter said.

Negotiating leaders Senator Bernard Sanders and Representative Jeff Miller will outline the tentative deal on Monday afternoon. The said fix would focus on improving the health care services rendered in V.A. facilities by adding new buildings, newer scheduling systems, and more doctors and nurses, The New York Times detailed.

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Some veterans live far from V.A. medical centers and they face very long wait times for their appointments with private physicians.  The proposed bill is expected to have provisions that will allow the government to pay for the visits that go beyond certain wait times.

Although the V.A. is known for providing quality health care, a national scandal that involved tampering with patient's wait-time information hit the department. The scandal stemmed from the shortage of health care workers, unrealistic 14-day wait-time for patients, low performance and managers' bonus incentives.

Recent discussions on the bill centered on the amount required for its execution and this stirred bitter debates among lawmakers. In addition, the senators and representatives were pressured to reach an agreement before the Congress enters its month-long recess this week.

On Sunday, officials did not reveal details and the cost of the bill, but the latter is expected to reach tens of billions of dollars. The House and Senate both passed bills mostly intended for emergency relief.

Sloan D. Gibson, acting veterans secretary, said they would need US$17.6 billion in the next three years to be able to hire additional 10,000 doctors and nurses. The amount would also cover the new facilities to be built and the upgrade for the department's outdated information technology (IT) applications and systems.

The legislation first needs to gain the approval of a committee of lawmakers and the full House and Senate. Only then can it proceed to the White House to obtain signature of U.S. President Barack Obama.

TagsV.A., health care, U.S. Congress, wait-time