I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2816 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program 

to increase access to hepatitis C testing for Vietnam-era veterans, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 16, 2019 

Ms. STEFANIK (for herself, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. RYAN, Mr. KILMER, 

Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. COOK, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. ESPAILLAT, and 

Miss GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N of Puerto Rico) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out 

a pilot program to increase access to hepatitis C testing 

for Vietnam-era veterans, 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 ‘‘Vietnam-Era Veterans 

5 Hepatitis C Testing Enhancement Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM TO INCREASE ACCESS TO HEPA2 TITIS C TESTING FOR VIETNAM-ERA VET3 ERANS. 

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Beginning not later than 180 

5 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec6 retary of Veterans Affairs shall carry out a one-year pilot 

7 program to make hepatitis C testing available to covered 

8 veterans at certain outreach events organized by veterans 

9 service organizations. 

10 (b) SELECTION OF VETERAN INTEGRATED SERVICE

11 NETWORKS.—The Secretary shall select five Veterans In12 tegrated Service Networks of the Department of Veterans 

13 Affairs in which to carry out the pilot program as follows: 

14 (1) Two such networks that predominantly 

15 serve rural areas. 

16 (2) Three such networks that predominantly 

17 serve urban areas. 

18 (c) TERMINATION DATE.—The pilot program de19 scribed under subsection (a) shall terminate on the date 

20 that is one year after the date on which the Secretary be21 gins to carry out such program. 

22 (d) AUTOMATIC TRIGGER.—If at least 350,000 vet23 erans are tested for hepatitis C by the termination date 

24 described in subsection (c), the Secretary shall expand the 

25 program to all Veterans Integrated Service Networks of 


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1 the Department not later than one year after the date on 

2 which the pilot program ends. 

3 (e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 180 days 

4 after the date on which the pilot program ends, the Sec5 retary shall submit to Congress a report on the pilot pro6 gram that includes— 

7 (1) the number of covered veterans tested for 

8 hepatitis C under the pilot program; and 

9 (2) a list of resources needed to expand the 

10 pilot program to all Veterans Integrated Service 

11 Networks for the length of time necessary to test all 

12 covered veterans for hepatitis C. 

13 (f) COVERED VETERAN DEFINED.—In this Act, the 

14 term ‘‘covered veteran’’ means a person who served in the 

15 active military, naval, or air service between February 28, 

16 1961, and May 7, 1975, and was discharged or released 

17 therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable, re18 gardless of whether such person is enrolled in the patient 

19 enrollment system of the Department of Veterans Affairs 

20 established under section 1705(a) of title 38, United 

21 States Code. 

22 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—No addi23 tional funds are authorized to carry out the requirements 

24 of this Act. Such requirements shall be carried out using 

25 amounts otherwise authorized to be appropriated to the 


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1 Department of Veterans Affairs for the express purpose 

2 of providing hepatitis C-related care. 

Æ 


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