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
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.