II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2473 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs to furnish organ transplant care to veterans at non-Department 

of Veterans Affairs facilities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2018 

Mr. CASSIDY 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 Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish organ transplant 

care to veterans at non-Department of Veterans Affairs 

facilities, 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 Increased 

5 Choice for Transplanted Organs and Recovery Act of 

6 2018’’ or the ‘‘VICTOR Act of 2018’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ORGAN TRANSPLANT CARE FOR VETERANS AT NON2 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS FACILI3 TIES. 

4 (a) ORGAN TRANSPLANT CARE.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 17 

6 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by in7 serting after section 1703 the following new section: 

8 ‘‘§ 1703A. Organ transplant care at non-Department 

9 facilities 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall furnish 

11 organ transplant care to eligible veterans, at the election 

12 of the eligible veteran, at non-Department facilities that 

13 are in compliance with regulations prescribed by the Cen14 ters for Medicare & Medicaid Services with respect to 

15 transplant centers. 

16 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE VETERANS.—A veteran is an eligible 

17 veteran for purposes of this section if the veteran— 

18 ‘‘(1) is enrolled in the system of annual patient 

19 enrollment established and operated under section 

20 1705(a) of this title; and 

21 ‘‘(2) received care under this chapter within the 

22 24-month period preceding the furnishing of organ 

23 transplant care under this section. 

24 ‘‘(c) PROVIDER AGREEMENTS.—(1) The Secretary 

25 shall enter into provider agreements with non-Department 


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1 facilities to carry out this section in each Veterans Inte2 grated Service Network region of the Department. 

3 ‘‘(2) Under provider agreements entered into under 

4 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall pay non-Department 

5 facilities for care furnished under this section an amount 

6 equal to the amount that would otherwise be paid for such 

7 care under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 

8 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.). 

9 ‘‘(3) A provider agreement entered into under para10 graph (1) shall include payment of procurement fees, as 

11 well as payment for the cost of providing the organ trans12 plant care. 

13 ‘‘(d) PAYMENT FOR TRAVEL AND LODGING.—Not14 withstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary 

15 shall not pay for travel and lodging costs for a veteran 

16 seeking organ transplant care under this section outside 

17 the region of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation 

18 Network (as established under section 372 of the National 

19 Organ Transplantation Act (42 U.S.C. 274)) in which the 

20 veteran resides unless the Secretary authorizes such care 

21 outside such region. 

22 ‘‘(e) ORGAN TRANSPLANT CARE DEFINED.—In this 

23 section, the term ‘organ transplant’ includes bone marrow 

24 transplants.’’. 


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1 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec2 tions at the beginning of chapter 17 of such title is 

3 amended by inserting after the item relating to sec4 tion 1703 the following new item: 

‘‘1703A. Organ transplant care at non-Department facilities.’’. 

5 (b) INITIAL PROVIDER AGREEMENTS.—The Sec6 retary of Veterans Affairs shall— 

7 (1) not later than 30 days after the date of the 

8 enactment of this Act, seek to enter into provider 

9 agreements under section 1703A(c) of title 38, 

10 United States Code, as added by subsection (a); and 

11 (2) not later than January 1, 2019, finalize 

12 such provider agreements. 

13 (c) REPORTS.— 

14 (1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than one year 

15 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec16 retary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Congress 

17 a report on— 

18 (A) the status of provider agreements en19 tered into under section 1703A(c) of title 38, 

20 United States Code, as added by subsection (a); 

21 and 

22 (B) the number of non-Department of Vet23 erans Affairs facilities with which the Secretary 

24 has entered into a provider agreement under 


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1 such section within each Veterans Integrated 

2 Service Network region of the Department. 

3 (2) REPORT ON USAGE OF FACILITIES.—Not 

4 later than two years after the date of the enactment 

5 of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress 

6 a report on, for the one-year period preceding the re7 port— 

8 (A) the number of veterans that have 

9 sought organ transplant care at transplant fa10 cilities under section 1703A of title 38, United 

11 States Code, as added by subsection (a); and 

12 (B) the number of veterans that have 

13 sought organ transplant care at a facility of the 

14 Department. 

Æ 


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