II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1589 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs to ensure the Department of Veterans Affairs has an up-todate policy on reporting of cases of infectious diseases, to require an 

independent assessment of the Veterans Integrated Service Networks 

and medical centers of the Department, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 28, 2013 

Mr. BURR introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure the Department 

of Veterans Affairs has an up-to-date policy on reporting 

of cases of infectious diseases, to require an independent 

assessment of the Veterans Integrated Service Networks 

and medical centers of the Department, 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 ‘‘Improving Quality of 

3 Care Within the Department of Veterans Affairs Act of 

4 2013’’. 

5 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT FOR DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

6 AFFAIRS POLICY ON REPORTING CASES OF 

7 INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT FACILITIES OF 

8 THE DEPARTMENT. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 73 of 

10 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

11 end the following new section: 

12 ‘‘§ 7330B. Reporting of infectious diseases 

13 ‘‘(a) REPORTING.—The Secretary shall ensure that 

14 the Department has in effect an up-to-date policy on re15 porting a notifiable infectious disease diagnosed at a facil16 ity under the jurisdiction of the Secretary in accordance 

17 with the provisions of State and local law in effect where 

18 such facility is located. 

19 ‘‘(b) NOTIFIABLE INFECTIOUS DISEASE.—For pur20 poses of this section, a notifiable infectious disease is any 

21 infectious disease that is— 

22 ‘‘(1) on the list of nationally notifiable diseases 

23 published by the Council of State and Territorial 

24 Epidemiologists and the Centers for Disease Control 

25 and Prevention; or 


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1 ‘‘(2) covered by a provision of law of a State 

2 that requires the reporting of infectious diseases. 

3 ‘‘(c) PERFORMANCE MEASURES.—The Secretary 

4 shall develop performance measures to assess whether and 

5 to what degree the directors of Veterans Integrated Serv6 ice Networks and Department medical centers are com7 plying with the policy required by subsection (a).’’. 

8 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

9 at the beginning of chapter 73 of such title is amended 

10 by inserting after the item relating to section 7330A the 

11 following new item: 

‘‘7330B. Reporting of infectious diseases.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT OF THE VETERANS IN13 TEGRATED SERVICE NETWORKS AND MED14 ICAL CENTERS OF DEPARTMENT OF VET15 ERANS AFFAIRS. 

16 (a) CONTRACT.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans 

18 Affairs shall seek to enter into a contract with an 

19 independent third-party to perform the services cov20 ered by this section. 

21 (2) TIMING.—The Secretary shall seek to enter 

22 into the contract described in paragraph (1) not 

23 later than 270 days after the date of the enactment 

24 of this Act. 

25 (b) INDEPENDENT STUDY.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Under a contract between 

2 the Secretary and an independent third-party under 

3 this section, the third party shall carry out a 

4 study— 

5 (A) to assess the organizational structures 

6 of medical centers of the Department of Vet7 erans Affairs; and 

8 (B) to improve succession planning among 

9 key leadership roles at Veterans Integrated 

10 Service Networks and medical centers of the 

11 Department. 

12 (2) MATTERS STUDIED AND PROPOSED.—In 

13 carrying out the study, the third party shall— 

14 (A) assess whether organizational structure 

15 of the medical centers of the Department is ef16 fective for the furnishing of medical services, 

17 addressing issues that arise regarding the fur18 nishing of medical services, and addressing 

19 standard business operations; 

20 (B) propose one organizational chart for 

21 Department medical centers with a common set 

22 of base position descriptions; 

23 (C) propose a base set of medical positions 

24 that should be filled to ensure that the health 


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1 care provided to veterans by the Department is 

2 of good quality; and 

3 (D) identify which key leadership positions 

4 at Veterans Integrated Service Networks and 

5 Department medical centers should have succes6 sion plans and propose how to implement such 

7 plans. 

8 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

9 on which the third party completes the study under this 

10 section, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 

11 Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Vet12 erans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a report 

13 on the results of such study. 

Æ 


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