H. R. 4352 

One Hundred Fourteenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday, 

the fourth day of January, two thousand and sixteen 

An Act 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program establishing 

a patient self-scheduling appointment system, 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 ‘‘Faster Care for Veterans Act 

of 2016’’. 

SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM ESTABLISHING A PATIENT SELF-SCHEDULING 

APPOINTMENT SYSTEM. 

(a) PILOT PROGRAM.—Not later than 120 days after the date 

of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

shall commence a pilot program under which veterans use an 

Internet website or mobile application to schedule and confirm 

medical appointments at medical facilities of the Department of 

Veterans Affairs. 

(b) SELECTION OF LOCATIONS.—The Secretary shall select not 

less than three Veterans Integrated Services Networks in which 

to carry out the pilot program under subsection (a). 

(c) CONTRACTS.— 

(1) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary shall seek to enter into 

a contract using competitive procedures with one or more contractors to provide the scheduling capability described in subsection (a). 

(2) NOTICE OF COMPETITION.—Not later than 60 days after 

the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

issue a request for proposals for the contract described in 

paragraph (1). Such request shall be full and open to any 

contractor that has an existing commercially available, offthe-shelf online patient self-scheduling system that includes 

the capabilities specified in section 3(a). 

(3) SELECTION.—Not later than 120 days after the date 

of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall award a 

contract to one or more contractors pursuant to the request 

for proposals under paragraph (2). 

(d) DURATION OF PILOT PROGRAM.— 

(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided by paragraph (2), 

the Secretary shall carry out the pilot program under subsection 

(a) for an 18-month period. 

(2) EXTENSION.—The Secretary may extend the duration 

of the pilot program under subsection (a), and may expand 

the selection of Veterans Integrated Services Networks under 
H. R. 4352—2 

subsection (b), if the Secretary determines that the pilot program is reducing the wait times of veterans seeking medical 

care and ensuring that more available appointment times are 

filled. 

(e) MOBILE APPLICATION DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

‘‘mobile application’’ means a software program that runs on the 

operating system of a cellular telephone, tablet computer, or similar 

portable computing device that transmits data over a wireless 

connection. 

SEC. 3. CAPABILITIES OF PATIENT SELF-SCHEDULING APPOINTMENT 

SYSTEM. 

(a) MINIMUM CAPABILITIES.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

shall ensure that the patient self-scheduling appointment system 

used in the pilot program under section 2, and any other patient 

self-scheduling appointment system developed or used by the 

Department of Veterans Affairs, includes, at a minimum, the following capabilities: 

(1) Capability to schedule, modify, and cancel appointments 

for primary care, specialty care, and mental health. 

(2) Capability to support appointments for the provision 

of health care regardless of whether such care is provided 

in person or through telehealth services. 

(3) Capability to view appointment availability in real time. 

(4) Capability to make available, in real time, appointments 

that were previously filled but later cancelled by other patients. 

(5) Capability to provide prompts or reminders to veterans 

to schedule follow-up appointments. 

(6) Capability to be used 24 hours per day, 7 days per 

week. 

(7) Capability to integrate with the Veterans Health 

Information Systems and Technology Architecture of the 

Department, or such successor information technology system. 

(b) INDEPENDENT VALIDATION AND VERIFICATION.— 

(1) INDEPENDENT ENTITY.— 

(A) The Secretary shall seek to enter into an agreement 

with an appropriate non-governmental, not-for-profit entity 

with expertise in health information technology to 

independently validate and verify that the patient selfscheduling appointment system used in the pilot program 

under section 2, and any other patient self-scheduling 

appointment system developed or used by the Department 

of Veterans Affairs, includes the capabilities specified in 

subsection (a). 

(B) Each independent validation and verification conducted under subparagraph (A) shall be completed as follows: 

(i) With respect to the validation and verification 

of the patient self-scheduling appointment system used 

in the pilot program under section 2, by not later 

than 60 days after the date on which such pilot program commences. 

(ii) With respect to any other patient self-scheduling appointment system developed or used by the 

Department of Veterans Affairs, by not later than 60 

days after the date on which such system is deployed, 

regardless of whether such deployment is on a limited 
H. R. 4352—3 

basis, but not including any deployments for testing 

purposes. 

(2) GAO EVALUATION.— 

(A) The Comptroller General of the United States shall 

evaluate each validation and verification conducted under 

paragraph (1). 

(B) Not later than 30 days after the date on which 

the Comptroller General completes an evaluation under 

paragraph (1), the Comptroller General shall submit to 

the appropriate congressional committees a report on such 

evaluation. 

(C) In this paragraph, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means— 

(i) the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

House of Representatives and the Senate; and 

(ii) the Committees on Appropriations of the House 

of Representatives and the Senate. 

(c) CERTIFICATION.— 

(1) CAPABILITIES INCLUDED.—Not later than December 31, 

2017, the Secretary shall certify to the Committees on Veterans’ 

Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate that 

the patient self-scheduling appointment system used in the 

pilot program under section 2, and any other patient selfscheduling appointment system developed or used by the 

Department of Veterans Affairs as of the date of the certification, includes the capabilities specified in subsection (a). 

(2) NEW SYSTEMS.—If the Secretary develops or begins 

using a new patient self-scheduling appointment system that 

is not covered by a certification made under paragraph (1), 

the Secretary shall certify to such committees that such new 

system includes the capabilities specified in subsection (a) by 

not later than 30 days after the date on which the Secretary 

determines to replace the previous patient self-scheduling 

appointment system. 

(3) EFFECT OF CAPABILITIES NOT INCLUDED.—If the Secretary does not make a timely certification under paragraph 

(1) or paragraph (2), the Secretary shall replace any patient 

self-scheduling appointment system developed by the Secretary 

that is in use with a commercially available, off-the-shelf online 

patient self-scheduling system that includes the capabilities 

specified in subsection (a). 
H. R. 4352—4 

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON NEW APPROPRIATIONS. 

No additional funds are authorized to carry out the requirements of this Act. Such requirements shall be carried out using 

amounts otherwise authorized. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.