[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1510 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.1510

                    One Hundred Seventeenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
         the fourth day of January, two thousand and twenty-one


                                 An Act


 
  To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress a 
report on the use of cameras in medical facilities of the Department of 
                            Veterans Affairs.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. REPORT ON USE OF CAMERAS IN MEDICAL FACILITIES OF THE 
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
    (a) Report Required.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in 
collaboration with the Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness 
of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Veterans Health 
Administration, and the Office of Construction and Facilities 
Management of the Department, shall submit to the Committees on 
Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the House of Representatives a 
report analyzing the policies, use, and maintenance of cameras deployed 
by the Department for patient safety and law enforcement at medical 
facilities of the Department.
    (b) Elements.--The report required by subsection (a) shall include 
the following:
        (1) A comprehensive review of the policies and procedures of 
    the Department regarding the use and maintenance of cameras with 
    respect to the following:
            (A) Patient safety, including--
                (i) an analysis of how cameras are used to monitor 
            staff and patients;
                (ii) an analysis of the specific units within medical 
            facilities in which the use of cameras is prioritized to 
            protect patient safety;
                (iii) an analysis of the procedures regarding the 
            positioning of cameras;
                (iv) an analysis of the extent to which cameras monitor 
            locations where drugs are stored to ensure that drugs are 
            accounted for, and an assessment of whether this is a 
            widely used practice; and
                (v) an analysis of the actions taken to preserve and 
            protect patient privacy.
            (B) Law enforcement of medical facilities of the 
        Department, including--
                (i) how exterior cameras are used;
                (ii) how interior cameras are used; and
                (iii) an analysis of locations, interior and exterior, 
            in which camera use is prioritized.
        (2) Recommendations of the Secretary to improve patient safety 
    and law enforcement, including--
            (A) the placement and maintenance of cameras;
            (B) the storage of data from such cameras;
            (C) the authority of supervisors at medical facilities of 
        the Department to review recordings from cameras;
            (D) the number of staff required to monitor live footage 
        from cameras at each medical facility of the Department;
            (E) the funding necessary to address shortfalls with 
        respect to cameras and the specific uses for such funding;
            (F) any additional actions required to preserve and protect 
        patient privacy; and
            (G) such other matters the Secretary determines 
        appropriate.
    (c) Camera Defined.--In this section, the term ``camera'' means any 
video camera used in a medical facility of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs for purposes of patient safety or law enforcement, but does not 
include cameras used solely by the Inspector General of the Department 
of Veterans Affairs to assist in criminal investigations conducted by 
the Inspector General.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.