I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7441 

To expedite hiring by the Department of Veterans Affairs of medical department personnel separating from the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 1, 2020 

Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana (for herself and Miss RICE of New York) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period 

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL 

To expedite hiring by the Department of Veterans Affairs 

of medical department personnel separating from the 

Armed Forces, 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 ‘‘Hire Veteran Health 

5 Heroes Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EXPEDITED HIRING BY DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

2 AFFAIRS OF MEDICAL DEPARTMENT PER3 SONNEL SEPARATING FROM THE ARMED 

4 FORCES. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Af6 fairs, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall 

7 conduct recruitment for covered medical personnel posi8 tions from among medical department personnel of the 

9 Department of Defense who hold medical military occupa10 tional specialties and are separating from the Armed 

11 Forces. 

12 (b) TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.—Recruit13 ment shall be conducted under subsection (a) for sepa14 rating members of the Armed Forces as part of the Tran15 sition Assistance Program conducted for such members. 

16 (c) ELEMENTS OF RECRUITMENT.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense, in 

18 collaboration with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 

19 shall schedule regular briefing times for all medical 

20 department personnel of the Department of Defense 

21 who are separating from the Armed Forces to be 

22 briefed by a supervisor or technician from a human 

23 resources office of the Veterans Health Administra24 tion on— 


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1 (A) employment opportunities with the De2 partment of Veterans Affairs throughout the 

3 United States; 

4 (B) options for careers with the Depart5 ment in a covered medical personnel position; 

6 and 

7 (C) the expedited recruitment and hiring 

8 process under this section. 

9 (2) ONE-ON-ONE APPOINTMENTS.—The super10 visor or technician conducting the briefing under 

11 paragraph (1) shall— 

12 (A) schedule a one-on-one appointment for 

13 each separating medical department personnel 

14 member who wishes to meet to review covered 

15 medical personnel positions that are available; 

16 and 

17 (B) accept applications for such positions. 

18 (d) HIRING.— 

19 (1) TENTATIVE OFFER.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—The supervisor or tech21 nician conducting the briefing under subsection 

22 (c)(1) and accepting applications under sub23 section (c)(2)(B) may tentatively offer appli24 cants for covered medical personnel positions 

25 who agree to accept the position and meet a 


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1 preliminary qualification review established by 

2 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs such a posi3 tion at a medical facility of the Department of 

4 Veterans Affairs. 

5 (B) TIMING.—A tentative offer under sub6 paragraph (A) to a member of the Armed 

7 Forces participating in the recruitment and hir8 ing process under this section may be made 

9 during the period beginning on the date that is 

10 90 days before the separation of the member 

11 from the Armed Forces and ending on the date 

12 that is 90 days after such separation. 

13 (2) FINAL OFFER.—After conducting the ten14 tative offer process for an individual under para15 graph (1), the supervisor or technician shall trans16 mit information on and credentials for the individual 

17 to the medical facility at which the individual would 

18 be hired for final verification and interviews to com19 plete the hiring process and possibly present a final 

20 offer. 

21 (3) CONDUCT OF HIRING PROCESS.—Notwith22 standing any other provision of law, the Secretary 

23 may hire individuals under this section through di24 rect, non-competitive, and other hiring processes as 


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1 the Secretary considers appropriate to carry out this 

2 section. 

3 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) COVERED MEDICAL PERSONNEL POSI5 TION.—The term ‘‘covered medical personnel posi6 tion’’ means a medical personnel position at all 

7 grades within the Department of Veterans Affairs 

8 employed under— 

9 (A) the General Schedule under subchapter 

10 III of chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code; 

11 (B) the prevailing rate system under sub12 chapter IV of such chapter; 

13 (C) section 7425 of title 38, United States 

14 Code; or 

15 (D) a hybrid authority. 

16 (2) TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.—The 

17 term ‘‘Transition Assistance Program’’ means the 

18 Transition Assistance Program under sections 1142 

19 and 1144 of title 10, United States Code. 

Æ 


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