II 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4352 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 7, 2016 

Received 

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. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Faster Care for Vet3 erans Act of 2016’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM ESTABLISHING A PATIENT SELF5 SCHEDULING APPOINTMENT SYSTEM. 

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

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

8 Veterans Affairs shall commence a pilot program under 

9 which veterans use an Internet website or mobile applica10 tion to schedule and confirm medical appointments at 

11 medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

12 (b) SELECTION OF LOCATIONS.—The Secretary shall 

13 select not less than three Veterans Integrated Services 

14 Networks in which to carry out the pilot program under 

15 subsection (a). 

16 (c) CONTRACTS.— 

17 (1) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary shall seek to 

18 enter into a contract using competitive procedures 

19 with one or more contractors to provide the sched20 uling capability described in subsection (a). 

21 (2) NOTICE OF COMPETITION.—Not later than 

22 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

23 the Secretary shall issue a request for proposals for 

24 the contract described in paragraph (1). Such re25 quest shall be full and open to any contractor that 

26 has an existing commercially available, off-the-shelf 


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1 online patient self-scheduling system that includes 

2 the capabilities specified in section 3(a). 

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

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

5 shall award a contract to one or more contractors 

6 pursuant to the request for proposals under para7 graph (2). 

8 (d) DURATION OF PILOT PROGRAM.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided by para10 graph (2), the Secretary shall carry out the pilot 

11 program under subsection (a) for an 18-month pe12 riod. 

13 (2) EXTENSION.—The Secretary may extend 

14 the duration of the pilot program under subsection 

15 (a), and may expand the selection of Veterans Inte16 grated Services Networks under subsection (b), if 

17 the Secretary determines that the pilot program is 

18 reducing the wait times of veterans seeking medical 

19 care and ensuring that more available appointment 

20 times are filled. 

21 (e) MOBILE APPLICATION DEFINED.—In this sec22 tion, the term ‘‘mobile application’’ means a software pro23 gram that runs on the operating system of a cellular tele24 phone, tablet computer, or similar portable computing de25 vice that transmits data over a wireless connection. 


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1 SEC. 3. CAPABILITIES OF PATIENT SELF-SCHEDULING AP2 POINTMENT SYSTEM. 

3 (a) MINIMUM CAPABILITIES.—The Secretary of Vet4 erans Affairs shall ensure that the patient self-scheduling 

5 appointment system used in the pilot program under sec6 tion 2, and any other patient self-scheduling appointment 

7 system developed or used by the Department of Veterans 

8 Affairs, includes, at a minimum, the following capabilities: 

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

10 appointments for primary care, specialty care, and 

11 mental health. 

12 (2) Capability to support appointments for the 

13 provision of health care regardless of whether such 

14 care is provided in person or through telehealth serv15 ices. 

16 (3) Capability to view appointment availability 

17 in real time. 

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

19 appointments that were previously filled but later 

20 cancelled by other patients. 

21 (5) Capability to provide prompts or reminders 

22 to veterans to schedule follow-up appointments. 

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

24 days per week. 

25 (7) Capability to integrate with the Veterans 

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1 tecture of the Department, or such successor infor2 mation technology system. 

3 (b) INDEPENDENT VALIDATION AND

4 VERIFICATION.— 

5 (1) INDEPENDENT ENTITY.— 

6 (A) The Secretary shall seek to enter into 

7 an agreement with an appropriate non-govern8 mental, not-for-profit entity with expertise in 

9 health information technology to independently 

10 validate and verify that the patient self-sched11 uling appointment system used in the pilot pro12 gram under section 2, and any other patient 

13 self-scheduling appointment system developed 

14 or used by the Department of Veterans Affairs, 

15 includes the capabilities specified in subsection 

16 (a). 

17 (B) Each independent validation and 

18 verification conducted under subparagraph (A) 

19 shall be completed as follows: 

20 (i) With respect to the validation and 

21 verification of the patient self-scheduling 

22 appointment system used in the pilot pro23 gram under section 2, by not later than 60 

24 days after the date on which such pilot 

25 program commences. 


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1 (ii) With respect to any other patient 

2 self-scheduling appointment system devel3 oped or used by the Department of Vet4 erans Affairs, by not later than 60 days 

5 after the date on which such system is de6 ployed, regardless of whether such deploy7 ment is on a limited basis, but not includ8 ing any deployments for testing purposes. 

9 (2) GAO EVALUATION.— 

10 (A) The Comptroller General of the United 

11 States shall evaluate each validation and 

12 verification conducted under paragraph (1). 

13 (B) Not later than 30 days after the date 

14 on which the Comptroller General completes an 

15 evaluation under paragraph (1), the Comp16 troller General shall submit to the appropriate 

17 congressional committees a report on such eval18 uation. 

19 (C) In this paragraph, the term ‘‘appro20 priate congressional committees’’ means— 

21 (i) the Committees on Veterans’ Af22 fairs of the House of Representatives and 

23 the Senate; and 


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1 (ii) the Committees on Appropriations 

2 of the House of Representatives and the 

3 Senate. 

4 (c) CERTIFICATION.— 

5 (1) CAPABILITIES INCLUDED.—Not later than 

6 December 31, 2017, the Secretary shall certify to 

7 the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of 

8 Representatives and the Senate that the patient self9 scheduling appointment system used in the pilot pro10 gram under section 2, and any other patient self11 scheduling appointment system developed or used by 

12 the Department of Veterans Affairs as of the date 

13 of the certification, includes the capabilities specified 

14 in subsection (a). 

15 (2) NEW SYSTEMS.—If the Secretary develops 

16 or begins using a new patient self-scheduling ap17 pointment system that is not covered by a certifi18 cation made under paragraph (1), the Secretary 

19 shall certify to such committees that such new sys20 tem includes the capabilities specified in subsection 

21 (a) by not later than 30 days after the date on 

22 which the Secretary determines to replace the pre23 vious patient self-scheduling appointment system. 

24 (3) EFFECT OF CAPABILITIES NOT IN25 CLUDED.—If the Secretary does not make a timely 


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1 certification under paragraph (1) or paragraph (2), 

2 the Secretary shall replace any patient self-sched3 uling appointment system developed by the Sec4 retary that is in use with a commercially available, 

5 off-the-shelf online patient self-scheduling system 

6 that includes the capabilities specified in subsection 

7 (a). 

8 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON NEW APPROPRIATIONS. 

9 No additional funds are authorized to carry out the 

10 requirements of this Act. Such requirements shall be car11 ried out using amounts otherwise authorized. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 6, 

2016. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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