I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2661 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a standardized scheduling policy for veterans enrolled in the health care system of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 11, 2013 

Mr. MCCARTHY of California (for himself, Mr. COFFMAN, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. 

HUNTER, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. CALVERT, and 

Mr. ISSA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a 

standardized scheduling policy for veterans enrolled in 

the health care system 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 ‘‘Veterans Access to 

5 Timely Medical Appointments Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs is statu2 torily obligated to provide eligible individuals who 

3 served in the Armed Forces with access to health 

4 care and benefits provided by the Department of 

5 Veterans Affairs related to such service. 

6 (2) The Secretary has given the Department 

7 the goal of scheduling a primary care medical ap8 pointment within seven days of the date requested 

9 by the patient and or the provider and scheduling a 

10 specialty care medical appointment within fourteen 

11 days of the date requested by the patient and or the 

12 provider. 

13 (3) The ability of the Secretary to accurately 

14 schedule and provide timely access to medical ap15 pointments is critical to ensure the health care needs 

16 of veterans are met and medical conditions do not 

17 worsen because of delays in receiving medical treat18 ment. 

19 (4) An audit by the Comptroller General of the 

20 United States found that medical appointment wait 

21 times reported by the Veterans Health Administra22 tion of the Department are unreliable. 

23 (5) The Comptroller General found that without 

24 reliable measurement of how long patients are wait25 ing for medical appointments, the Secretary is not 


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1 able to identify areas that need improvement and 

2 therefore cannot mitigate problems that contribute 

3 to wait times. 

4 (6) The Comptroller General found that the un5 reliable data and measures for wait times create a 

6 discrepancy between the positive results the Depart7 ment publishes and what veterans actually experi8 ence. 

9 (7) The Comptroller General found that the 

10 Veterans Health Administration inconsistently im11 plements its scheduling policy across medical centers 

12 of the Department, which impedes scheduling timely 

13 medical appointments. 

14 (8) The Comptroller General found that over15 sight of compliance with such scheduling policy, such 

16 as ensuring the completion of required scheduler 

17 training, was inconsistent across facilities. 

18 (9) The Comptroller General found that the 

19 management by the Secretary of telephone service, 

20 including lack of staff dedicated to answering phones 

21 and unreturned phone calls, impede veterans’ access 

22 to timely medical appointments. 

23 (10) Among the four medical centers of the De24 partment reviewed by the Comptroller General, pa25 tient complaints regarding unreturned phone calls 


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1 ranked among the top two categories of complaints 

2 during fiscal year 2012. 

3 (11) The Comptroller General found that in 

4 January 2012, the Veterans Health Administration 

5 distributed best practices for telephone access that, 

6 if implemented, could help improve telephone access 

7 to clinical care. 

8 (12) The Secretary is not meeting the statutory 

9 obligations of the Secretary to provide veterans with 

10 timely access to medical appointments so that such 

11 veterans can receive benefits and health care by the 

12 Department in a timely manner. 

13 SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENT OF MEDICAL APPOINTMENT SCHED14 ULING POLICY FOR VETERANS. 

15 (a) STANDARDIZED SCHEDULING POLICY.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

17 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec18 retary of Veterans Affairs shall implement a stand19 ardized policy to ensure that a veteran enrolled in 

20 the health care system established under section 

21 1705(a) of title 38, United States Code, is able to 

22 schedule— 

23 (A) primary care medical appointments 

24 within seven days of the date requested by the 


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1 veteran or the health care provider on behalf of 

2 the veteran; and 

3 (B) specialty care medical appointments 

4 within 14 days of the date requested by the vet5 eran or the health care provider on behalf of 

6 the veteran. 

7 (2) IMPLEMENTATION.—In implementing the 

8 policy under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 

9 (A) ensure that such policy— 

10 (i) will not be subject to interpretation 

11 or prone to scheduler error; and 

12 (ii) provides the Secretary with reli13 able data regarding the length of time that 

14 veterans are waiting for appointments de15 scribed in paragraph (1) that the Secretary 

16 can use to accurately report the perform17 ance of the policy as compared to the goals 

18 of the policy; 

19 (B) ensure that the Veterans Health Ad20 ministration carries out uniform procedures 

21 with respect to such policy; 

22 (C) issue detailed guidance to the directors 

23 of the Veterans Integrated Service Networks to 

24 ensure the consistent implementation of such 


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1 policy at each medical center and other related 

2 facilities of the Department; 

3 (D) ensure that only employees of the De4 partment who have completed required training 

5 are allowed to schedule medical appointments; 

6 and 

7 (E) make public annual performance re8 ports for each Veterans Integrated Service Net9 work with respect to such policy. 

10 (b) RESOURCE ALLOCATION.— 

11 (1) ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 180 days 

12 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and each 

13 180-day period thereafter, the Secretary shall assess 

14 the resources of each Veterans Integrated Service 

15 Network to determine the ability of the Network to 

16 meet the scheduling requirements described in sub17 section (a)(1). 

18 (2) ALLOCATION.—The Secretary may repro19 gram funds and allocate or transfer staff and other 

20 resources within the Veterans Health Administration 

21 and the Veterans Integrated Service Network to en22 sure that each Network meets the scheduling re23 quirements described in subsection (a)(1). 


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1 (3) NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary shall notify 

2 Congress of any reprogramming made pursuant to 

3 paragraph (2). 

4 (c) PHONE ACCESS.—The Secretary shall direct each 

5 medical center of the Department to provide oversight of 

6 telephone access and implement the best practices outlined 

7 in the telephone systems improvement guide of the Vet8 erans Health Administration, including, at a minimum, 

9 practices to ensure that— 

10 (1) calls are answered in a timely manner and 

11 the messages of patients will have a return call not 

12 later than 24 hours after the patient leaves the mes13 sage; and 

14 (2) a call center at each such medical center is 

15 properly staffed to meet the needs of the veteran 

16 population served by the medical center. 

17 (d) INSPECTOR GENERAL REPORT.—The Inspector 

18 General of the Department of Veterans Affairs, in con19 sultation with veterans service organizations, shall submit 

20 to Congress an annual report on the progress of the Sec21 retary of Veterans Affairs in implementing this Act. Each 

22 such report shall include, for the time period covered by 

23 the report, each of the following: 

24 (1) An assessment of the reliability of data re25 garding the wait times for appointments described in 


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1 paragraph (1) of subsection (a) as required by para2 graph (2)(A)(ii) of such subsection. 

3 (2) An assessment of the extent to which the 

4 Secretary met the telephone call timeframes as re5 quired by subsection (c). 

6 (3) An assessment of the extent to which med7 ical appointments scheduled at Department medical 

8 facilities reflect the date that the veteran (or health 

9 care provider on behalf of the veteran) requests for 

10 such appoint. 

11 (4) As assessment of the extent to which med12 ical appointments scheduled at Department medical 

13 facilities were not changed within the scheduling sys14 tem of the Veterans Health Administration unless 

15 such changes were requested by the veteran (or 

16 health care provider on behalf of the veteran). 

Æ 


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