[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 607 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 607
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish an integrated
project team to improve the process for scheduling appointments for
health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 18, 2025
Ms. Hassan (for herself and Mr. Boozman) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish an integrated
project team to improve the process for scheduling appointments for
health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Improving Veteran Access to Care
Act''.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF INTEGRATED PROJECT TEAM OF DEPARTMENT OF
VETERANS AFFAIRS TO IMPROVE HEALTH CARE APPOINTMENT
SCHEDULING.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, through the
Veterans Health Administration and the Office of Information and
Technology of the Department of Veterans Affairs, or any successor
offices or administrations of similar function, shall establish an
integrated project team to improve the process for scheduling
appointments for health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of this section is to ensure the
Department of Veterans Affairs delivers to patients and employees of
the Department in a timely manner the scheduling capabilities developed
by the integrated project team established under subsection (a) to
immediately improve delivery of care, access to care, customer
experience and service, and efficiency with respect to the delivery of
care.
(c) Objectives.--The objectives of the integrated project team
established under subsection (a) are the following:
(1) To develop or continue the development of a scheduling
system that enables both personnel and patients of the
Department of Veterans Affairs to view available appointments
for all care furnished by the Department, including--
(A) available appointments for all providers of the
Department;
(B) available appointments at all clinics,
hospitals, and other health care facilities of the
Department; and
(C) available appointments at all offices providing
patient care within the health care system of the
Department, including primary care and all forms of
specialty care.
(2) To develop or continue the development of a self-
service scheduling platform, available for use by all patients
of the Department, which shall--
(A) enable such patients to view available
appointments and fully schedule appointments for all
care furnished by the Department, including--
(i) appointments for all providers of the
Department;
(ii) appointments at all clinics,
hospitals, and other health care facilities of
the Department; and
(iii) appointments at all offices providing
patient care within the health care system of
the Department, including primary care and all
forms of specialty care;
(B) if a referral is required for an appointment,
provide a method for the patient to request a referral
and subsequently book an appointment if the referral is
approved; and
(C) provide such patients with the ability to
cancel or reschedule appointments.
(3) To create a process through which all patients of the
Department can telephonically speak with a scheduler who can
assist the patient to determine appointment availability and
can fully schedule appointments on behalf of the patient for
all care furnished by the Department, including--
(A) appointments for all providers of the
Department;
(B) appointments at all clinics, hospitals, and
other health care facilities of the Department; and
(C) appointments at all offices providing patient
care within the health care system of the Department,
including primary care and all forms of specialty care.
(4) To carry out such other functions, oversight, metric
development and tracking, change management, cross-Department
coordination, and other related matters as the Secretary
determines appropriate as it relates to scheduling tools,
functions, and operations with respect to health care
appointments furnished by the Department.
(d) Coordination With Electronic Health Record Modernization
Program.--
(1) In general.--The integrated project team established
under subsection (a) shall carry out the objectives under
subsection (c) in consultation and coordination with the
deployment schedule and capabilities of the Electronic Health
Record Modernization Program of the Department of Veterans
Affairs to ensure a smooth transition to using the tools and
features, where relevant and appropriate, that may be created
pursuant to this section, along with the features in the
Electronic Health Record Modernization Program.
(2) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this subsection shall
be construed to require the integrated project team established
under subsection (a), the Veterans Health Administration, or
the Office of Information and Technology of the Department to
defer or delay the deployment of scheduling capabilities
required by this section because of future potential planned
capabilities of the Electronic Health Record Modernization
Program.
(e) Deadlines.--
(1) Establishment.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs, through the Veterans Health Administration and the
Office of Information and Technology of the Department of
Veterans Affairs, or any successor office, shall fully
establish the integrated project team under subsection (a).
(2) Completion of objectives.--Not later than one year
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the integrated
project team established under subsection (a) shall complete
the objectives under subsection (c).
(f) Report on Objectives.--If the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
determines that an objective under subsection (c), or any feature or
service in connection with that objective, cannot be implemented or
otherwise incorporated into a final product, the Secretary shall,
within 45 days of that determination, submit to the appropriate
committees of Congress a report--
(1) detailing that objective, feature, or service and
providing an explanation as to why that objective, feature, or
service cannot be implemented or incorporated, as the case may
be; and
(2) setting forth a plan for implementing this section
without that objective, feature, or service.
(g) Implementation Reports.--Not later than each of one year and
two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress
a report on the progress of the Secretary in fulfilling the
requirements of this section, including--
(1) costs incurred to implement such requirements as of the
date of the report;
(2) the expected costs to complete implementation of such
requirements (including costs for management and technology);
(3) the schedule for deployment of any capabilities
developed by the integrated project team established under
subsection (a); and
(4) goals and metrics achieved, challenges, and lessons
learned.
(h) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed to preclude or impede the ability of a veteran to contact or
schedule an appointment directly with a facility or provider through a
non-online scheduling process, should the veteran choose to do so.
(i) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term
``appropriate committees of Congress'' means the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans'
Affairs of the House of Representatives.
(2) Fully schedule.--The term ``fully schedule'', with
respect to booking an appointment, means that the appointment
booking is completed, rather than simply requested.
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