I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 914 

To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

to jointly operate the Federal Recovery Coordination Program, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 12, 2015 

Ms. GRAHAM (for herself and Mr. BUCK) 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 direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of 

Veterans Affairs to jointly operate the Federal Recovery 

Coordination Program, 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. IMPROVEMENT OF FEDERAL RECOVERY COOR4 DINATOR PROGRAM. 

5 (a) PROVISION OF COLLABORATIVE RECOVERY CO6 ORDINATOR TRAINING.—The Secretary of Veterans Af7 fairs shall provide collaborative recovery coordinator train8 ing at a qualified nursing or medical school selected by 


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1 the Secretary (hereinafter in this section referred to as 

2 the ‘‘qualified nursing or medical school’’), to lead system3 atic evidence review of care coordination and consensus 

4 conference to build the model on evidence-based guide5 lines. 

6 (b) LITERATURE REVIEW; CONSENSUS CON7 FERENCE.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The qualified nursing or 

9 medical school is hereby designated to lead literature 

10 review and development of evidence-based guidelines 

11 for recovery coordination, development of training 

12 modules for care coordination and software that is 

13 compatible with Department of Veterans Affairs sys14 tems for recovery coordination. The qualified nurs15 ing or medical school is hereby designated to lead a 

16 consensus conference on evidence-based care coordi17 nation. 

18 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

19 There is authorized to be appropriated $1,200,000 

20 to carry out this subsection. 

21 (c) CARE COORDINATION SOFTWARE DEVELOP22 MENT.— 

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

24 Affairs shall— 


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1 (A) enter into a subcontract with an ap2 propriate entity for the development of care co3 ordination software; 

4 (B) carry out a conference for recovery co5 ordinator tool validation; and 

6 (C) carry out a software pilot program. 

7 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

8 There is authorized to be appropriated $1,200,000 

9 to carry out this subsection. 

10 (d) RECOVERY COORDINATOR TRAINING.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The qualified nursing or 

12 medical school is authorized to train 45 recovery co13 ordinators. 

14 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For 

15 each of fiscal years 2016, 2017, and 2018, there is 

16 authorized to be appropriated $500,000 for training 

17 authorized under this subsection. 

18 SEC. 2. JOINT OPERATION OF FEDERAL RECOVERY CO19 ORDINATION PROGRAM. 

20 (a) FEDERAL RECOVERY COORDINATION PRO21 GRAM.—In carrying out the Federal Recovery Coordina22 tion Program (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Pro23 gram’’), the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of 

24 Veterans Affairs shall ensure that— 


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1 (1) the program is operated jointly by the Sec2 retaries; 

3 (2) the administration of the Program is not 

4 delegated to an individual outside the respective of5 fice of each Secretary; 

6 (3) the program assists— 

7 (A) members of the Armed Forces with se8 vere or catastrophic injuries or illnesses who are 

9 unlikely to return to active duty and will most 

10 likely be medically separated under chapter 61 

11 of title 10, United States Code; and 

12 (B) members of the Armed Forces and vet13 erans whose individual circumstances (including 

14 illness, injury, mental health, family situation, 

15 and unique benefit needs) are determined by 

16 the Secretary concerned to cause difficulties to 

17 the member or veteran in transitioning to civil18 ian life; 

19 (4) in referring members and veterans de20 scribed in paragraph (3) to the Program, the Sec21 retary of each military department and the Sec22 retary of Veterans Affairs makes such referrals at 

23 the earliest time feasible, including by the date that 

24 is 180 days before the last day of the month in 


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1 which a member is expected to be retired or sepa2 rated from the Armed Forces; and 

3 (5) each department and agency of the Federal 

4 Government, including the Department of Defense 

5 and the Department of Veterans Affairs, provides a 

6 Federal Recovery Coordinator of the Program with 

7 the information, coordination, and cooperation nec8 essary for the Coordinator to assist members and 

9 veterans participating in the Program, including the 

10 maximum amount of information, coordination, and 

11 cooperation available to allow the Coordinator to— 

12 (A) ensure the efficient recovery, transi13 tion, and reintegration of such members and 

14 veterans; 

15 (B) act as a liaison between such members 

16 and veterans and the team of care providers 

17 and other personnel involved with the recovery, 

18 transition, and reintegration of the member or 

19 veteran, regardless of whether such team is 

20 under the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary 

21 of Veterans Affairs; and 

22 (C) work closely with case and care-man23 agement programs that assist such members 

24 and veterans. 


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1 (b) PLAN AND MEMORANDUM OF UNDER2 STANDING.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the 

3 enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense and the 

4 Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall— 

5 (1) jointly develop a plan to carry out sub6 section (a); 

7 (2) enter into a memorandum of understanding 

8 to jointly carry out the plan beginning 90 days after 

9 the date on which the memorandum is entered into; 

10 and 

11 (3) jointly submit to the appropriate congres12 sional committees such plan and memorandum. 

13 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

14 on which the memorandum of understanding under para15 graph (2) of subsection (b) goes into effect, the Secretary 

16 of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 

17 jointly submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

18 a report describing and evaluating the implementation of 

19 such memorandum and plan under paragraph (1) of such 

20 subsection. 

21 (d) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

22 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con23 gressional committees’’ means the following: 

24 (1) The Committees on Armed Services of the 

25 House of Representatives and Senate. 


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1 (2) The Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

2 House of Representatives and Senate. 

Æ 


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