II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 875 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the reporting of cases 

of infectious diseases at facilities of the Veterans Health Administration, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 7, 2013 

Mr. CASEY 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 reporting of cases of infectious diseases at facilities of the 

Veterans Health Administration, 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 Vet5 erans Affairs Disease Reporting and Oversight Act of 

6 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT THAT VETERANS HEALTH ADMINIS2 TRATION REPORT CASES OF INFECTIOUS DIS3 EASES AT FACILITIES OF THE ADMINISTRA4 TION. 

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

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

7 end the following new section: 

8 ‘‘§ 7330B. Reporting of infectious diseases 

9 ‘‘(a) REPORTING.—(1) Except as provided in para10 graph (2), not later than 24 hours after the director of 

11 a Veterans Integrated Service Network confirms the pres12 ence of a notifiable infectious disease at a facility under 

13 the jurisdiction of the director, the director shall submit 

14 notice of such presence to the following: 

15 ‘‘(A) The Central Office of the Department. 

16 ‘‘(B) The Director of the Centers for Disease 

17 Control and Prevention. 

18 ‘‘(C) The State in which the facility is located 

19 and if the State has an agency or department that 

20 handles matters relating to such notifiable infectious 

21 disease, the head of such agency or department. 

22 ‘‘(D) The county in which the facility is located 

23 and if the county has an agency or department that 

24 handles matters relating to such notifiable infectious 

25 disease, the head of such agency or department. 


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1 ‘‘(E) For each individual who has contracted 

2 the notifiable infectious disease at the facility or is 

3 at risk of contracting such notifiable infectious dis4 ease— 

5 ‘‘(i) the individual and the individual’s next 

6 of kin; 

7 ‘‘(ii) the individual’s primary health care 

8 provider; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) the county in which the individual re10 sides and if the county has an agency or de11 partment that handles matters relating to such 

12 notifiable infectious disease, the head of such 

13 agency or department. 

14 ‘‘(F) Each employee of the Department who is 

15 employed at such facility. 

16 ‘‘(2) If the State in which a facility described in para17 graph (1) is located requires that a notifiable infectious 

18 disease confirmed at such facility be reported to the State 

19 more quickly than required under paragraph (1) or re20 quires that a suspected presence of a notifiable infectious 

21 disease at such facility be reported before waiting for con22 firmation of such presence, the director concerned shall 

23 comply with such State requirement. 


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1 ‘‘(3) Not later than 24 hours after submitting a no2 tice under paragraph (1), the director concerned shall con3 firm that such notice is received. 

4 ‘‘(b) NOTIFIABLE INFECTIOUS DISEASE.—For pur5 poses of this section, a notifiable infectious disease is any 

6 infectious disease that is— 

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

8 published by the Council of State and Territorial 

9 Epidemiologists and the Centers for Disease Control 

10 and Prevention; or 

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

12 that requires the reporting of infectious diseases. 

13 ‘‘(c) PLAN TO PREVENT SPREAD.—(1) Not later 

14 than seven days after the director of a Veterans Integrated 

15 Service Network confirms the presence of a notifiable in16 fectious disease at a facility under the jurisdiction of such 

17 director, the director shall develop and implement an ac18 tion plan to manage and control the potential spread of 

19 the notifiable infectious disease. 

20 ‘‘(2) The plan developed and implemented under 

21 paragraph (1) shall also provide details on the role of 

22 partnering Federal, State, and local government entities 

23 in the management and control of the potential spread of 

24 the notifiable infectious disease. 


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1 ‘‘(d) RECORDKEEPING.—The director of each Vet2 erans Integrated Service Network shall keep records of 

3 each notice submitted under subsection (a)(1) for a period 

4 of not less than 10 years. 

5 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL REPORTS BY INSPECTOR GENERAL.— 

6 Not less frequently than once each year, the Inspector 

7 General of the Department shall submit to Congress a re8 port on the compliance of the directors of the Veterans 

9 Integrated Service Networks with the requirements of this 

10 section. 

11 ‘‘(f) ENFORCEMENT AND DISCIPLINARY ACTION.— 

12 (1) In any case in which the Inspector General of the De13 partment suspects that a director of a Veterans Integrated 

14 Service Network has failed to comply with an applicable 

15 provision of this section, the Inspector General shall con16 duct an investigation to determine whether such director 

17 failed to comply with an applicable provision of this sec18 tion. 

19 ‘‘(2) If the Inspector General determines under para20 graph (1) that a director has failed to comply with a provi21 sion of this section, the Secretary shall suspend such direc22 tor for such period as the Secretary considers appropriate 

23 under subchapter I or subchapter II of chapter 75 of title 

24 5, as the case may be. 


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1 ‘‘(3) Paragraph (2) shall not be construed to prevent 

2 the Secretary from imposing, in addition to suspension 

3 under paragraph (2), such other disciplinary action on the 

4 director as the Secretary considers appropriate and for 

5 which the Secretary is otherwise authorized.’’. 

6 (b) INTERNAL COMMUNICATION.—Not later than 

7 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

8 Under Secretary for Health of the Veterans Health Ad9 ministration shall issue a directive to the Pathology Team, 

10 the Infection Prevention Team, and the Facilities Manage11 ment Team of the Veterans Health Administration and 

12 such other groups within the Administration as the Under 

13 Secretary considers appropriate on the actions that should 

14 be taken in any case in which a notifiable infectious dis15 ease (as such term is used in section 7330B of title 38, 

16 United States Code, as added by subsection (a)) is discov17 ered in a facility of the Veterans Health Administration. 

18 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

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

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

21 following new item: 

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

Æ 


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