Veterans’ Affairs Committee Backs John Bartrum for Top VA Health Role

The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs advanced the nomination of John Bartrum to serve as under secretary for Health at the Department of Veterans Affairs late last month.  The vote passed 10 to 9, with all Republican members voting in favor and all Democrats opposed.

Bartrum is a former mobilization assistant to the Air and Space Force Surgeon General. He also played a pivotal role in coordinating federal medical responses during the COVID-19 pandemic, serving as deputy incident manager for Emergency Support Function-8. During his confirmation hearings, he vowed to lead the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) with a focus on improving care, if confirmed.

“We need to balance its form and function, its structure and its basic leadership,” Bartrum told lawmakers in July. “Having been a leader in both the civil service side as an SES and on the military side as a general officer, that’s what I intend to do: to lead the organization to look at the processes and how to better affect the veterans’ patient outcome.”

When asked about staffing issues at the VHA, Bartrum told the committee in July that he would work with VA leaders to optimize staff and technology to enhance care across the agency.

“I look forward to working with you, the staff and with my other colleagues at VA to set up staffing models to ensure that we’re looking at that to make sure that we’re getting the throughput on patient output,” he said in July.

During Bartrum’s confirmation hearings, Sen. Jon Tester expressed concern about Batrum’s pledge to expand private sector care to veterans, saying that the unique medical expertise housed within the VHA must be protected.

“The VA system was built with the veteran as its heart. Private sector medical care has been built on a system of profit maximization. These two systems may be at odds when it comes to veteran outcomes,” Tester said.

Officials praised Bartrum’s nomination, including VA Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence.

“With over 40 years of military and public service, John brings unmatched experience to the Veterans Health Administration — the largest integrated health care system in the country, serving more than 9.1 million veterans across 1,380 facilities,” Lawrence wrote in a June LinkedIn post.

Bartrum joined the VA in January 2025 as a senior advisor to Secretary Doug Collins and previously held senior positions at the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. House Appropriations Committee. According to LinkedIn, Bartrum also founded Brightstar Innovations Group, a strategic advisory firm focused on public policy and national security. If confirmed, he would oversee the Veterans Health Administration, which serves more than 9 million veterans across 1,380 facilities.

Bartrum’s nomination reported out of committee and will proceed to the full Senate for consideration.