I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5524 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct annual surveys of 

veterans on experiences with medical facilities of the Department of 

Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2019 

Mr. RICE of South Carolina introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct annual 

surveys of veterans on experiences with medical facilities 

of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Survey Our 

5 Servicemembers Act’’ or the ‘‘SOS Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SURVEY OF VETERAN EXPERIENCES WITH DEPART2 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS MEDICAL 

3 CARE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

5 shall seek to enter into a contract with a non-government 

6 entity with significant experience conducting scientifically 

7 verifiable surveys and research to conduct an annual sur8 vey of a statistically significant sample of veterans who 

9 reside in the geographic area served by each of the medical 

10 facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to deter11 mine the nature of the experiences of such veterans in ob12 taining hospital care and medical services furnished by the 

13 Secretary at each such medical facility. Each such survey 

14 shall be conducted using scientific and verifiable methods. 

15 Such contract shall provide that the non-government enti16 ty shall conduct such annual surveys during the five-year 

17 period beginning on the date on which the Secretary en18 ters into the contract with the non-government entity. 

19 (b) CONTENTS.—The contract entered into under 

20 subsection (a) shall provide that each survey conducted 

21 pursuant to the contract shall be specific to a medical fa22 cility of the Department and shall include questions relat23 ing to the experiences of veterans in requesting and receiv24 ing appointments for hospital care and medical services 

25 furnished by the Secretary at that medical facility, includ26 ing questions relating to, with respect to veterans who 


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1 have received hospital care or medical services at non-De2 partment facilities— 

3 (1) the factors considered by the veteran with 

4 respect to choosing whether to receive hospital care 

5 or medical services at a facility of the Department 

6 or at a non-Department facility; 

7 (2) the quality of hospital care or medical serv8 ices the veteran has received at non-Department fa9 cilities; and 

10 (3) the differences in the cost to the veteran of 

11 receiving hospital care or medical services at non12 Department facilities and hospital care or medical 

13 services at medical facilities of the Department. 

14 (c) CONSULTATION.—The contract entered into 

15 under subsection (a) shall provide that in designing and 

16 conducting the surveys for each medical facility of the De17 partment pursuant to such contract, the non-government 

18 entity shall consult with veterans service organizations. 

19 (d) CERTIFICATION.—The contract entered into 

20 under subsection (a) shall provide that— 

21 (1) before conducting a survey pursuant to the 

22 contract, the non-government entity shall submit the 

23 proposed survey to the Comptroller General who 

24 shall assess whether the survey is scientifically valid 


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1 and whether the proposed sample size of veterans to 

2 be surveyed is statistically significant; and 

3 (2) the non-government entity may not conduct 

4 such a survey until the Comptroller General provides 

5 such a certification for the survey. 

6 (e) SUBMITTAL OF RESULTS AND PUBLIC AVAIL7 ABILITY OF INFORMATION.—Not later than 30 days after 

8 the completion of the surveys conducted pursuant to a 

9 contract entered into under subsection (a) for a year, the 

10 Secretary shall make the results of the surveys publicly 

11 available on the internet website of the Department. 

12 (f) PAPERWORK REDUCTION.—Subchapter I of chap13 ter 35 of title 44, United States Code shall not apply to 

14 this section. 

15 (g) DEADLINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION.—The Sec16 retary shall enter into a contract under subsection (a) for 

17 each medical facility of the Department by not later than 

18 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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