I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1862 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct outreach to veterans 

regarding the effect of delayed payments of claims for emergency medical 

care furnished by non-Department of Veterans Affairs medical providers 

by the Chief Business Office and to direct the Secretary to submit 

to Congress an annual report regarding such delayed payments. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 16, 2015 

Mr. BOUSTANY (for himself and Mr. ABRAHAM) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct outreach to veterans regarding the effect of delayed payments of claims for emergency medical care furnished 

by non-Department of Veterans Affairs medical providers 

by the Chief Business Office and to direct the Secretary 

to submit to Congress an annual report regarding such 

delayed payments. 

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’ Credit Pro5 tection Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. OUTREACH TO VETERANS REGARDING EFFECT OF 

2 CERTAIN DELAYED PAYMENTS BY DEPART3 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS CHIEF BUSI4 NESS OFFICE. 

5 (a) OUTREACH.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

6 shall conduct outreach, including through national and 

7 local veterans service organizations, to inform veterans of 

8 how to resolve credit issues caused by delayed payment 

9 of a claim for emergency hospital care, medical services, 

10 or other emergency health care furnished through a non11 Department of Veterans Affairs provider. The Secretary 

12 shall establish a toll-free telephone number for veterans 

13 to report such credit issues to the Chief Business Office 

14 of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

15 (b) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans 

17 Affairs shall annually submit to Congress a report 

18 on the effectiveness of the Chief Business Office in 

19 providing timely payment of proper invoices for 

20 emergency hospital care, medical services, or other 

21 emergency health care furnished through non-De22 partment of Veterans Affairs providers by the re23 quired payment date during both the five-year period 

24 preceding the date of the report and the one-year pe25 riod preceding such date. For any part of the period 

26 covered by a report under this subsection that ocVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 Apr 25, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1862.IH H1862

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1 curred before October 1, 2014, the report shall 

2 evaluate the provision of such payments by the Vet3 erans Integrated Service Networks. 

4 (2) MATTERS INCLUDED.—The reports under 

5 paragraph (1) shall include, for each period covered 

6 by the report, the following: 

7 (A) The number of veterans who contacted 

8 the Secretary regarding a delayed payment that 

9 negatively affected, or will potentially negatively 

10 affect, the credit of the veteran. 

11 (B) The total amount of interest penalties 

12 paid by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs under 

13 section 3902 of title 31, United States Code, by 

14 reason of a delayed payment. 

15 (C) The number of proper invoices sub16 mitted, listed in a table for each quarter and 

17 fiscal year of each such period that includes— 

18 (i) the total amount owed by the Sec19 retary under the proper invoices; 

20 (ii) the payment status of each proper 

21 invoice, as of the date of the report; and 

22 (iii) the period that elapsed until each 

23 proper invoice was paid, including an ex24 planation of any delayed payment. 


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1 (D) Any comments regarding delayed pay2 ments made by medical providers. 

3 (E) A description of the best practices that 

4 the Chief Business Office can carry out to pro5 vide timely payment of a proper invoice, includ6 ing a plan to improve such timely payments. 

7 (c) QUARTERLY REPORTS ON PENDING CLAIMS.— 

8 The Chief Business Office of the Department of Veterans 

9 Affairs shall submit to Congress quarterly reports on the 

10 number of pending claims for reimbursement for emer11 gency hospital care, medical services, and other emergency 

12 health care furnished through non-Department of Vet13 erans Affairs providers. Each such report shall include 

14 each of the following: 

15 (1) The total number of such pending claims 

16 for each hospital system of the Department, as of 

17 the last day of the quarter covered by the report. 

18 (2) The total number of veterans who sub19 mitted such a pending claim in each State, as of 

20 such day. 

21 (3) The aggregate amount of all such pending 

22 claims in each State, as of such day. 

23 (4) As of such day— 

24 (A) the number of such pending claims 

25 that have been pending for 30 days or longer; 


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1 (B) the number of such pending claims 

2 that have been pending for 90 days or longer; 

3 and 

4 (C) the number of such pending claims 

5 that have been pending for 365 days or longer. 

6 (5) For each hospital system, for the quarter 

7 covered by the report— 

8 (A) the number of claims for reimburse9 ment for emergency hospital care, medical serv10 ices, and other emergency health care furnished 

11 through non-Department of Veterans Affairs 

12 providers approved during such quarter; 

13 (B) the number of such claims denied dur14 ing such quarter; and 

15 (C) the number of such claims denied list16 ed by each denial reason group. 

17 (d) COMPTROLLER GENERAL STUDY.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

19 the United States shall conduct a study that evalu20 ates the effectiveness of the Chief Business Office in 

21 providing timely payment of a proper invoice for 

22 emergency hospital care, medical services, or other 

23 emergency health care furnished through non-De24 partment of Veterans Affairs providers by the re25 quired payment date. 


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1 (2) SUBMITTAL.—The Comptroller General 

2 shall submit to Congress a report on the study con3 ducted under paragraph (1), including the total 

4 amount of interest penalties paid by the Secretary of 

5 Veterans Affairs under section 3902 of title 31, 

6 United States Code, by reason of a delayed payment. 

7 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) The term ‘‘delayed payment’’ means a prop9 er invoice that is not paid by the Secretary of Vet10 erans Affairs until after the required payment date. 

11 (2) The term ‘‘proper invoice’’ has the meaning 

12 given that term in section 3901(a) of title 31, 

13 United States Code. 

14 (3) The term ‘‘required payment date’’ means 

15 the date that payment is due for a contract pursu16 ant to section 3903(a) of title 31, United States 

17 Code. 

Æ 


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