I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4728 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish the office of the Health 

Monitor of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 21, 2017 

Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish the 

office of the Health Monitor of 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 ‘‘Fixing VHA Facilities 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. HEALTH MONITOR. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 3 of title 38, United 

8 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 312A 

9 the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘§ 312B. Health Monitor. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) There is in the Department 

3 a Health Monitor who shall appointed by the Secretary. 

4 ‘‘(2) The Health Monitor shall report to the Inspector 

5 General in the discharge of the duties of the Health Mon6 itor under subsection (c). The Inspector General may not 

7 terminate the Health Monitor until 60 days after the date 

8 the Inspector General notifies Congress of such impending 

9 termination. 

10 ‘‘(3) In discharging the duties under subsection (c), 

11 the Health Monitor shall have the powers of an Inspector 

12 General under section 6 of the Inspector General Act of 

13 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.). 

14 ‘‘(b) QUALIFICATIONS.—Each individual appointed 

15 as Health Monitor shall be an individual who has sub16 stantive professional experience in at least one of the fol17 lowing areas: 

18 ‘‘(1) Federal oversight. 

19 ‘‘(2) Health care administration. 

20 ‘‘(3) Health care delivery. 

21 ‘‘(4) Patient advocacy. 

22 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—(1) Not later than 60 days after the 

23 issuance of the end-of-year relative performance star rat24 ings (in this section referred to as ‘Star Ratings’) for each 

25 fiscal year, the Health Monitor shall identify and transmit 

26 a list of specific improvement recommendations for each 


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1 medical center of the Department that received fewer than 

2 three stars in the Star Ratings for the most recent fiscal 

3 year. The Health Monitor shall transmit each such list 

4 to— 

5 ‘‘(A) the Director of the medical center named 

6 in the list; 

7 ‘‘(B) the Secretary; 

8 ‘‘(C) the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of 

9 the Senate and the House of Representatives; 

10 ‘‘(D) the Senators for the State in which the 

11 medical center is located; and 

12 ‘‘(E) the Representative in whose congressional 

13 district the medical center is located. 

14 ‘‘(2) Not later than 180 days after the Health Mon15 itor transmits a list under paragraph (1), the Health Mon16 itor shall submit a report to the recipients of that list a 

17 report that identifies— 

18 ‘‘(A) the extent to which the Director of the 

19 medical center implemented the plan; 

20 ‘‘(B) any change in the performance of the 

21 medical center.’’. 

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

23 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 


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1 after the item relating to section 312A the following new 

2 item: 

‘‘312B. Health Monitor.’’. 

Æ 


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