119-s607

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 607 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

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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