Veterans Access to Timely Medical Appointments Act

Summary: Veterans Access to Timely Medical Appointments Act - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to implement a standardized policy to ensure that veterans enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system are able to schedule: (1) primary care medical appointments within 7 days of the date requested, and (2) specialty care medical appointments within 14 days of the date requested. Directs the Secretary to: (1) ensure that such policy will provide reliable data regarding the length of time that veterans are waiting for such appointments, (2) issue detailed guidance to the directors of the Veterans Integrated Service Networks to ensure the consistent implementation of such policy, (3) ensure that only VA employees who have completed required training are allowed to schedule medical appointments, and (4) assess the resources of each Network every 180 days to determine the Network's ability to meet such scheduling requirements.  Requires the Secretary to direct each VA medical center to provide oversight of telephone access and implement the best practices outlined in the VA telephone systems improvement guide, including practices to ensure that: (1) calls are answered in a timely manner and patient messages will have a return call within 24 hours, and (2) a call center at each such center is properly staffed to meet the needs of the veteran population served. Directs the Inspector General of the VA to submit an annual report on the Secretary's progress in implementing this Act.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans Access to Timely Medical 
Appointments Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs is statutorily 
        obligated to provide eligible individuals who served in the 
        Armed Forces with access to health care and benefits provided 
        by the Department of Veterans Affairs related to such service.
            (2) The Secretary has given the Department the goal of 
        scheduling a primary care medical appointment within seven days 
        of the date requested by the patient and or the provider and 
        scheduling a specialty care medical appointment within fourteen 
        days of the date requested by the patient and or the provider.
            (3) The ability of the Secretary to accurately schedule and 
        provide timely access to medical appointments is critical to 
        ensure the health care needs of veterans are met and medical 
        conditions do not worsen because of delays in receiving medical 
        treatment.
            (4) An audit by the Comptroller General of the United 
        States found that medical appointment wait times reported by 
        the Veterans Health Administration of the Department are 
        unreliable.
            (5) The Comptroller General found that without reliable 
        measurement of how long patients are waiting for medical 
        appointments, the Secretary is not able to identify areas that 
        need improvement and therefore cannot mitigate problems that 
        contribute to wait times.
            (6) The Comptroller General found that the unreliable data 
        and measures for wait times create a discrepancy between the 
        positive results the Department publishes and what veterans 
        actually experience.
            (7) The Comptroller General found that the Veterans Health 
        Administration inconsistently implements its scheduling policy 
        across medical centers of the Department, which impedes 
        scheduling timely medical appointments.
            (8) The Comptroller General found that oversight of 
        compliance with such scheduling policy, such as ensuring the 
        completion of required scheduler training, was inconsistent 
        across facilities.
            (9) The Comptroller General found that the management by 
        the Secretary of telephone service, including lack of staff 
        dedicated to answering phones and unreturned phone calls, 
        impede veterans' access to timely medical appointments.
            (10) Among the four medical centers of the Department 
        reviewed by the Comptroller General, patient complaints 
        regarding unreturned phone calls ranked among the top two 
        categories of complaints during fiscal year 2012.
            (11) The Comptroller General found that in January 2012, 
        the Veterans Health Administration distributed best practices 
        for telephone access that, if implemented, could help improve 
        telephone access to clinical care.
            (12) The Secretary is not meeting the statutory obligations 
        of the Secretary to provide veterans with timely access to 
        medical appointments so that such veterans can receive benefits 
        and health care by the Department in a timely manner.

SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENT OF MEDICAL APPOINTMENT SCHEDULING POLICY FOR 
              VETERANS.

    (a) Standardized Scheduling Policy.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
        shall implement a standardized policy to ensure that a veteran 
        enrolled in the health care system established under section 
        1705(a) of title 38, United States Code, is able to schedule--
                    (A) primary care medical appointments within seven 
                days of the date requested by the veteran or the health 
                care provider on behalf of the veteran; and
                    (B) specialty care medical appointments within 14 
                days of the date requested by the veteran or the health 
                care provider on behalf of the veteran.
            (2) Implementation.--In implementing the policy under 
        paragraph (1), the Secretary shall--
                    (A) ensure that such policy--
                            (i) will not be subject to interpretation 
                        or prone to scheduler error; and
                            (ii) provides the Secretary with reliable 
                        data regarding the length of time that veterans 
                        are waiting for appointments described in 
                        paragraph (1) that the Secretary can use to 
                        accurately report the performance of the policy 
                        as compared to the goals of the policy;
                    (B) ensure that the Veterans Health Administration 
                carries out uniform procedures with respect to such 
                policy;
                    (C) issue detailed guidance to the directors of the 
                Veterans Integrated Service Networks to ensure the 
                consistent implementation of such policy at each 
                medical center and other related facilities of the 
                Department;
                    (D) ensure that only employees of the Department 
                who have completed required training are allowed to 
                schedule medical appointments; and
                    (E) make public annual performance reports for each 
                Veterans Integrated Service Network with respect to 
                such policy.
    (b) Resource Allocation.--
            (1) Assessment.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, and each 180-day period thereafter, 
        the Secretary shall assess the resources of each Veterans 
        Integrated Service Network to determine the ability of the 
        Network to meet the scheduling requirements described in 
        subsection (a)(1).
            (2) Allocation.--The Secretary may reprogram funds and 
        allocate or transfer staff and other resources within the 
        Veterans Health Administration and the Veterans Integrated 
        Service Network to ensure that each Network meets the 
        scheduling requirements described in subsection (a)(1).
            (3) Notification.--The Secretary shall notify Congress of 
        any reprogramming made pursuant to paragraph (2).
    (c) Phone Access.--The Secretary shall direct each medical center 
of the Department to provide oversight of telephone access and 
implement the best practices outlined in the telephone systems 
improvement guide of the Veterans Health Administration, including, at 
a minimum, practices to ensure that--
            (1) calls are answered in a timely manner and the messages 
        of patients will have a return call not later than 24 hours 
        after the patient leaves the message; and
            (2) a call center at each such medical center is properly 
        staffed to meet the needs of the veteran population served by 
        the medical center.
    (d) Inspector General Report.--The Inspector General of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs, in consultation with veterans service 
organizations, shall submit to Congress an annual report on the 
progress of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in implementing this Act. 
Each such report shall include, for the time period covered by the 
report, each of the following:
            (1) An assessment of the reliability of data regarding the 
        wait times for appointments described in paragraph (1) of 
        subsection (a) as required by paragraph (2)(A)(ii) of such 
        subsection.
            (2) An assessment of the extent to which the Secretary met 
        the telephone call timeframes as required by subsection (c).
            (3) An assessment of the extent to which medical 
        appointments scheduled at Department medical facilities reflect 
        the date that the veteran (or health care provider on behalf of 
        the veteran) requests for such appoint.
            (4) As assessment of the extent to which medical 
        appointments scheduled at Department medical facilities were 
        not changed within the scheduling system of the Veterans Health 
        Administration unless such changes were requested by the 
        veteran (or health care provider on behalf of the veteran).