I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3561

To provide greater authority for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to share

health-care resources of the Department of Veterans Affairs, to provide

enhanced administrative flexibility in carrying out health-care resources

sharing agreements, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 30, 1996

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

A BILL

To provide greater authority for the Secretary of Veterans

Affairs to share health-care resources of the Department

of Veterans Affairs, to provide enhanced administrative

flexibility in carrying out health-care resources sharing

agreements, 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 ‘‘Department of Veter5 ans Affairs Health Care Expansion Act of 1996’’.
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1 SEC. 2. IMPROVED EFFICIENCY IN HEALTH CARE RE2 SOURCE MANAGEMENT.

3 (a) REPEAL OF SUNSET PROVISION.—Section 204 of

4 the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–

5 585; 106 Stat. 4950) is repealed.

6 (b) COST RECOVERY.—Title II of such Act is further

7 amended by adding at the end the following new section:

8 ‘‘SEC. 207. AUTHORITY TO BILL HEALTH-PLAN CONTRACTS.

9 ‘‘(a) RIGHT TO RECOVER.—In the case of a primary

10 beneficiary (as described in section 201(2)(B)) who has

11 coverage under a health-plan contract, as defined in sec12 tion 1729(i)(1)(A) of title 38, United States Code, and

13 who is furnished care or services by a Department medical

14 facility pursuant to this title, the United States shall have

15 the right to recover or collect charges for such care or

16 services from such health-plan contract to the extent that

17 the beneficiary (or the provider of the care or services)

18 would be eligible to receive payment for such care or serv19 ices from such health-plan contract if the care or services

20 had not been furnished by a department or agency of the

21 United States. Any funds received from such health-plan

22 contract shall be credited to funds that have been allotted

23 to the facility that furnished the care or services.

24 ‘‘(b) ENFORCEMENT.—The right of the United

25 States to recover under such a beneficiary’s health-plan

26 contract shall be enforceable in the same manner as that
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1 provided by subsections (a)(3), (b), (c)(1), (d), (f), (h),

2 and (i) of section 1729 of title 38, United States Code.’’.

3 SEC. 3. SHARING AGREEMENTS FOR HEALTH CARE RE4 SOURCES.

5 (a) REPEAL OF SECTION 8151.—(1) Subchapter IV

6 of chapter 81 of title 38, United States Code, is amend7 ed—

8 (A) by striking out section 8151; and

9 (B) by redesignating sections 8152, 8153,

10 8154, 8155, 8156, 8157, and 8158 as sections 8151,

11 8152, 8153, 8154, 8155, 8156, and 8157, respec12 tively.

13 (2) The table of sections at the beginning of such

14 chapter is amended—

15 (A) by striking out the item relating to section

16 8151; and

17 (B) by revising the items relating to sections

18 8152, 8153, 8154, 8155, 8156, 8157, and 8158 to

19 reflect the redesignations by paragraph (1)(B).

20 (b) REVISED AUTHORITY FOR SHARING AGREE21 MENTS.—Section 8152 of such title (as redesignated by

22 subsection (a)(1)(B)) is amended—

23 (1) in subsection (a)(1)(A)—
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1 (A) by striking out ‘‘specialized medical re2 sources’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘health3 care resources’’; and

4 (B) by striking out ‘‘other’’ and all that

5 follows through ‘‘medical schools’’ and inserting

6 in lieu thereof ‘‘any medical school, health-care

7 provider, health-care plan, insurer, or other en8 tity or individual’’;

9 (2) in subsection (a)(2) by striking out ‘‘only’’

10 and all that follows through ‘‘are not’’ and inserting

11 in lieu thereof ‘‘if such resources are not, or would

12 not be,’’;

13 (3) in subsection (b), by striking out ‘‘reciprocal

14 reimbursement’’ in the first sentence and all that

15 follows through the period at the end of that sen16 tence and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘payment to the

17 Department in accordance with procedures that pro18 vide appropriate flexibility to negotiate payment

19 which is in the best interest of the Government.’’;

20 (4) in subsection (d), by striking out ‘‘preclude

21 such payment, in accordance with—’’ and all that

22 follows through ‘‘to such facility therefor’’ and in23 serting in lieu thereof ‘‘preclude such payment to

24 such facility for such care or services’’;
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1 (5) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub2 section (f); and

3 (6) by inserting after subsection (d) the follow4 ing new subsection (e):

5 ‘‘(e) The Secretary may make an arrangement that

6 authorizes the furnishing of services by the Secretary

7 under this section to individuals who are not veterans only

8 if the Secretary determines—

9 ‘‘(1) that such an arrangement will not result

10 in the denial of, or a delay in providing access to,

11 care to any veteran at that facility; and

12 ‘‘(2) that such an arrangement—

13 ‘‘(A) is necessary to maintain an accept14 able level and quality of service to veterans at

15 that facility; or

16 ‘‘(B) will result in the improvement of

17 services to eligible veterans at that facility.’’.

18 (c) CROSS-REFERENCE AMENDMENTS.—(1) Section

19 8110(c)(3)(A) of such title is amended by striking out

20 ‘‘8153’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘8152’’.

21 (2) Subsection (b) of section 8154 of such title (as

22 redesignated by subsection (a)(1)(B)) is amended by strik23 ing out ‘‘section 8154’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘sec24 tion 8153’’.
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1 (3) Section 8156 of such title (as redesignated by

2 subsection (a)(1)(B)) is amended—

3 (A) in subsection (a), by striking out ‘‘section

4 8153(a)’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘section

5 8152(a)’’; and

6 (B) in subsection (b)(3), by striking out ‘‘sec7 tion 8153’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘section

8 8152’’.

9 (4) Subsection (a) of section 8157 of such title (as

10 redesignated by subsection (a)(1)(B)) is amended—

11 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by

12 striking out ‘‘section 8157’’ and ‘‘section 8153(a)’’

13 and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘section 8156’’ and

14 ‘‘section 8152(a)’’, respectively; and

15 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking out ‘‘section

16 8157(b)(4)’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘section

17 8156(b)(4)’’.

18 SEC. 4. PERSONNEL FURNISHING SHARED RESOURCES.

19 Section 712(b)(2) of title 38, United States Code, is

20 amended—

21 (1) by striking out ‘‘the sum of—’’ and insert22 ing in lieu thereof ‘‘the sum of the following:’’;

23 (2) by capitalizing the first letter of the first

24 word of each of subparagraphs (A) and (B);
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1 (3) by striking out ‘‘; and’’ at the end of sub2 paragraph (A) and inserting in lieu thereof a period;

3 and

4 (4) by adding at the end the following:

5 ‘‘(C) The number of such positions in the

6 Department during that fiscal year held by per7 sons involved in providing health-care resources

8 under section 8111 or 8152 of this title.’’.

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