VA gets new falls-prevention office to protect elderly veterans from injury

What it does

This bill creates a new Office of Falls Prevention within the Veterans Health Administration to coordinate and improve fall-prevention services for veterans. The office will develop care standards, oversee implementation, fund education campaigns, conduct research with the National Institute on Aging, and require nursing homes and extended-care facilities to perform falls-risk assessments and provide prevention services. It also mandates safe patient-handling training and directives for VA facilities.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is establishing a new administrative office and mandating fall-prevention standards and services within the VA system. It is a public-health and care-quality measure, not a financial transfer or deregulation.

What the text implies

• Expansion of Interagency Coordinating Committee on Healthy Aging adds VA Secretary to a federal aging-policy body, potentially increasing VA influence in broader federal health-aging policy beyond falls prevention.
• Pilot program on home modifications (subsection d) is discretionary and contingent on feasibility determination; if deemed infeasible, no expansion occurs, limiting scope of benefit.
• Nursing home care requirement (subsection 3(a)) terminates September 30, 2028, creating a sunset clause that may require reauthorization to continue mandatory falls assessments in VA nursing homes.
• Research coordination with National Institute on Aging (subsection d) may generate data and recommendations that influence broader federal aging policy, extending the bill's reach beyond VA.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Veterans, particularly elderly and disabled populations, gain access to coordinated, evidence-based fall-prevention services, mandatory risk assessments, and improved home modifications. The bill imposes no new costs on veterans and strengthens accountability for VA care quality.

Named in the bill

Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Under Secretary for Health, Chief Officer of Falls Prevention, National Institute on Aging, Office of Research and Development, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Interagency Coordinating Committee on Healthy Aging and Age-Friendly Communities

Where it stands

9 cosponsors: 6 Democrats, 3 Republicans.

• May 5, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• May 5, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce and House Committee on Veterans' Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Workforce…”
• Mar 18, 2026 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee Hearings Held”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

3 lobbying clients named this bill on 6 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,302,502 in lobbying spend. A filing names 29 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 61% of bills with at least one filing.

Nicole (Nikki) Budzinski, the sponsor, reported $1,238,485 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• American Physical Therapy Association — $614,051 on 2 filings
• The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. (aota) — $378,000 on 2 filings
• Disabled American Veterans — $310,451 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.