II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5624 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish an integrated project 

team to improve the process for scheduling appointments for health 

care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 19 (legislative day, DECEMBER 16), 2024 

Ms. HASSAN (for herself and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish 

an integrated project team to improve the process for 

scheduling appointments for health care from 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 ‘‘Improving Veteran Ac5 cess to Care Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF INTEGRATED PROJECT TEAM 

2 OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO 

3 IMPROVE HEALTH CARE APPOINTMENT 

4 SCHEDULING. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Af6 fairs, through the Veterans Health Administration and the 

7 Office of Information and Technology of the Department 

8 of Veterans Affairs, or any successor offices or administra9 tions of similar function, shall establish an integrated 

10 project team to improve the process for scheduling ap11 pointments for health care from the Department of Vet12 erans Affairs. 

13 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to en14 sure the Department of Veterans Affairs delivers to pa15 tients and employees of the Department in a timely man16 ner the scheduling capabilities developed by the integrated 

17 project team established under subsection (a) to imme18 diately improve delivery of care, access to care, customer 

19 experience and service, and efficiency with respect to the 

20 delivery of care. 

21 (c) OBJECTIVES.—The objectives of the integrated 

22 project team established under subsection (a) are the fol23 lowing: 

24 (1) To develop or continue the development of 

25 a scheduling system that enables both personnel and 

26 patients of the Department of Veterans Affairs to 


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1 view available appointments for all care furnished by 

2 the Department, including— 

3 (A) available appointments for all pro4 viders of the Department; 

5 (B) available appointments at all clinics, 

6 hospitals, and other health care facilities of the 

7 Department; and 

8 (C) available appointments at all offices 

9 providing patient care within the health care 

10 system of the Department, including primary 

11 care and all forms of specialty care. 

12 (2) To develop or continue the development of 

13 a self-service scheduling platform, available for use 

14 by all patients of the Department, which shall— 

15 (A) enable such patients to view available 

16 appointments and fully schedule appointments 

17 for all care furnished by the Department, in18 cluding— 

19 (i) appointments for all providers of 

20 the Department; 

21 (ii) appointments at all clinics, hos22 pitals, and other health care facilities of 

23 the Department; and 

24 (iii) appointments at all offices pro25 viding patient care within the health care 


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1 system of the Department, including pri2 mary care and all forms of specialty care; 

3 (B) if a referral is required for an appoint4 ment, provide a method for the patient to re5 quest a referral and subsequently book an ap6 pointment if the referral is approved; and 

7 (C) provide such patients with the ability 

8 to cancel or reschedule appointments. 

9 (3) To create a process through which all pa10 tients of the Department can telephonically speak 

11 with a scheduler who can assist the patient to deter12 mine appointment availability and can fully schedule 

13 appointments on behalf of the patient for all care 

14 furnished by the Department, including— 

15 (A) appointments for all providers of the 

16 Department; 

17 (B) appointments at all clinics, hospitals, 

18 and other health care facilities of the Depart19 ment; and 

20 (C) appointments at all offices providing 

21 patient care within the health care system of 

22 the Department, including primary care and all 

23 forms of specialty care. 

24 (4) To carry out such other functions, over25 sight, metric development and tracking, change manVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Jan 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5624.IS S5624

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1 agement, cross-Department coordination, and other 

2 related matters as the Secretary determines appro3 priate as it relates to scheduling tools, functions, 

4 and operations with respect to health care appoint5 ments furnished by the Department. 

6 (d) COORDINATION WITH ELECTRONIC HEALTH

7 RECORD MODERNIZATION PROGRAM.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The integrated project team 

9 established under subsection (a) shall carry out the 

10 objectives under subsection (c) in consultation and 

11 coordination with the deployment schedule and capa12 bilities of the Electronic Health Record Moderniza13 tion Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs 

14 to ensure a smooth transition to using the tools and 

15 features, where relevant and appropriate, that may 

16 be created pursuant to this section, along with the 

17 features in the Electronic Health Record Moderniza18 tion Program. 

19 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

20 subsection shall be construed to require the inte21 grated project team established under subsection (a), 

22 the Veterans Health Administration, or the Office of 

23 Information and Technology of the Department to 

24 defer or delay the deployment of scheduling capabili25 ties required by this section because of future potenVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Jan 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5624.IS S5624

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1 tial planned capabilities of the Electronic Health 

2 Record Modernization Program. 

3 (e) DEADLINES.— 

4 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days 

5 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec6 retary of Veterans Affairs, through the Veterans 

7 Health Administration and the Office of Information 

8 and Technology of the Department of Veterans Af9 fairs, or any successor office, shall fully establish the 

10 integrated project team under subsection (a). 

11 (2) COMPLETION OF OBJECTIVES.—Not later 

12 than one year after the date of the enactment of this 

13 Act, the integrated project team established under 

14 subsection (a) shall complete the objectives under 

15 subsection (c). 

16 (f) REPORT ON OBJECTIVES.—If the Secretary of 

17 Veterans Affairs determines that an objective under sub18 section (c), or any feature or service in connection with 

19 that objective, cannot be implemented or otherwise incor20 porated into a final product, the Secretary shall, within 

21 45 days of that determination, submit to the appropriate 

22 committees of Congress a report— 

23 (1) detailing that objective, feature, or service 

24 and providing an explanation as to why that objecVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Jan 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5624.IS S5624

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1 tive, feature, or service cannot be implemented or in2 corporated, as the case may be; and 

3 (2) setting forth a plan for implementing this 

4 section without that objective, feature, or service. 

5 (g) IMPLEMENTATION REPORTS.—Not later than 

6 each of one year and two years after the date of the enact7 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 

8 submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report 

9 on the progress of the Secretary in fulfilling the require10 ments of this section, including— 

11 (1) costs incurred to implement such require12 ments as of the date of the report; 

13 (2) the expected costs to complete implementa14 tion of such requirements (including costs for man15 agement and technology); 

16 (3) the schedule for deployment of any capabili17 ties developed by the integrated project team estab18 lished under subsection (a); and 

19 (4) goals and metrics achieved, challenges, and 

20 lessons learned. 

21 (h) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec22 tion shall be construed to preclude or impede the ability 

23 of a veteran to contact or schedule an appointment directly 

24 with a facility or provider through a non-online scheduling 

25 process, should the veteran choose to do so. 


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1 (i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON3 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con4 gress’’ means the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 

5 the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

6 of the House of Representatives. 

7 (2) FULLY SCHEDULE.—The term ‘‘fully sched8 ule’’, with respect to booking an appointment, means 

9 that the appointment booking is completed, rather 

10 than simply requested. 

Æ 


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