I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3508 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to clarify the qualifications of hearing 

aid specialists of the Veterans Health Administration of the Department 

of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 15, 2013 

Mr. DUFFY (for himself and Mr. WALZ) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to clarify the qualifications of hearing aid specialists of the Veterans Health 

Administration 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. APPOINTMENT OF HEARING AID SPECIALISTS 

4 TO VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION. 

5 (a) HEARING AID SPECIALISTS.— 

6 (1) APPOINTMENT.—Section 7401(3) of title 

7 38, United States Code, is amended by inserting 

8 ‘‘hearing aid specialists,’’ after ‘‘Audiologists,’’. 


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1 (2) QUALIFICATIONS.—Section 7402(b) of such 

2 title is amended— 

3 (A) by redesignating paragraph (14) as 

4 paragraph (15); and 

5 (B) by inserting after paragraph (13) the 

6 following new paragraph (14): 

7 ‘‘(14) HEARING AID SPECIALIST.—To be eligible to 

8 be appointed to a hearing aid specialist position, a person 

9 must— 

10 ‘‘(A) hold an associate’s degree in hearing in11 strument sciences, or its equivalent, from a college 

12 or university approved by the Secretary, or have suc13 cessfully completed a hearing aid specialist appren14 ticeship program approved by the Secretary; and 

15 ‘‘(B) be licensed as a hearing aid specialist, or 

16 its equivalent, in a State.’’. 

17 (b) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CURRENT SPECIAL18 ISTS.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—A hearing aid specialist de20 scribed in paragraph (2) shall be deemed to be eligi21 ble for appointment to a hearing aid specialist posi22 tion under sections 7401(3) and 7402(b)(14) of title 

23 38, United States Code, as amended by subsection 

24 (a). 


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1 (2) HEARING AID SPECIALIST DESCRIBED.—A 

2 hearing aid specialist described in this paragraph is 

3 a hearing aid specialist who— 

4 (A) is not covered under section 

5 7402(b)(14) of title 38, United States Code, as 

6 amended by subsection (a); and 

7 (B) during the two-year period ending on 

8 the date of the enactment of this Act— 

9 (i) held an unrevoked, unsuspended 

10 hearing aid license, or its equivalent, in a 

11 State; and 

12 (ii) worked as a licensed hearing aid 

13 specialist in a State. 

14 (c) ANNUAL REPORT REQUIRED.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

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

17 year thereafter, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

18 shall submit to Congress a report on the following: 

19 (A) Timely access to hearing health serv20 ices. 

21 (B) Contracting policies with respect to 

22 providing hearing health services in non-De23 partment facilities. 


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1 (2) TIMELY ACCESS.—With respect to the mat2 ters under paragraph (1)(A), the report shall include 

3 the following: 

4 (A) The staffing levels, as of the date of 

5 the report, of audiologists, health technicians in 

6 audiology, and hearing aid specialists in the 

7 Veterans Health Administration. 

8 (B) A description of how the Secretary 

9 measures performance with respect to appoint10 ments and care relating to hearing health. 

11 (C) The average time, as of the date of the 

12 report, that a patient waits to receive an ap13 pointment, beginning on the date on which the 

14 patient makes the request, for— 

15 (i) a disability rating evaluation; 

16 (ii) a primary hearing aid evaluation 

17 and ordering of hearing aids; 

18 (iii) dispensing of hearing aids; and 

19 (iv) any follow-up hearing health ap20 pointment. 

21 (D) The percentage of patients whose total 

22 wait time described in subparagraph (C) for 

23 both an initial and follow-up appointment is— 

24 (i) less than 15 days; 

25 (ii) between 15 days and 28 days; 


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1 (iii) between 29 days and 42 days; 

2 (iv) between 43 days and 56 days; or 

3 (v) exceeds 56 days. 

4 (3) CONTRACTING POLICIES.—With respect to 

5 the matters under paragraph (1)(B), the report shall 

6 include the following: 

7 (A) The number of patients that the Sec8 retary refers to non-Department audiologists 

9 for initial hearing health diagnosis appoint10 ments. 

11 (B) The number of patients described in 

12 subparagraph (A) whom the Secretary refers to 

13 non-Department hearing aid specialists for fol14 low-up hearing health care as described in para15 graph (2)(C). 

16 (C) The policies of the Veterans Health 

17 Administration regarding the referral of pa18 tients to non-Department hearing aid specialists 

19 and how such policies will be applied under the 

20 Patient-Centered Community Care Initiative. 

21 (d) UPDATED HANDBOOK.—Not later than 180 days 

22 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

23 shall update and reissue the handbook of the Veteran 

24 Health Administration numbered 1170.02 and titled 

25 ‘‘VHA Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology ServVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:09 Nov 16, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3508.IH H3508

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1 ices’’ to reflect the requirements made by this section or 

2 the amendments under this section. 

Æ 


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