I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 84 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish standards of access 

to care for veterans seeking health care from the Department of Veterans 

Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 6, 2009 

Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish standards of access to care for veterans seeking health care 

from 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 Timely Ac5 cess to Health Care Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STANDARDS FOR ACCESS TO CARE. 

2 (a) REQUIRED STANDARDS FOR ACCESS TO CARE.— 

3 Section 1703 of title 38, United States Code, is amended 

4 by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

5 ‘‘(e)(1) For a veteran seeking primary care from the 

6 Department, the standard for access to care, determined 

7 from the date on which the veteran contacts the Depart8 ment seeking an appointment until the date on which a 

9 visit with a primary-care provider is completed, is 30 days. 

10 ‘‘(2)(A) The Secretary shall prescribe an appropriate 

11 standard for access to care applicable to waiting times at 

12 Department health-care facilities, determined from the 

13 time at which a veteran’s visit is scheduled until the time 

14 at which the veteran is seen by the provider with whom 

15 the visit is scheduled. 

16 ‘‘(B) The Secretary shall periodically review the per17 formance of Department health-care facilities compared to 

18 the standard prescribed under subparagraph (A). The Sec19 retary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs 

20 of the Senate and House of Representatives an annual re21 port providing an assessment of the Department’s per22 formance in meeting that standard. 

23 ‘‘(3) Effective on the first day of the first fiscal year 

24 beginning after the date of the enactment of this section, 

25 but subject to paragraph (4), in a case in which the Sec26 retary is unable to meet the standard for access to care 


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1 applicable under paragraph (1) or (2), the Secretary shall, 

2 or with respect to a veteran described in section 

3 1705(a)(8) of this title may, use the authority of sub4 section (a) to furnish health care and services for that vet5 eran in a non-Department facility. In any such case— 

6 ‘‘(A) payments by the Secretary may not exceed 

7 the reimbursement rate for similar outpatient serv8 ices paid by the Secretary of Health and Human 

9 Services under part B of the medicare program (as 

10 defined in section 1781(d)(4)(A) of this title); and 

11 ‘‘(B) the non-Department facility may not bill 

12 the veteran for any difference between the facility’s 

13 billed charges and the amount paid by the Secretary 

14 under subparagraph (A). 

15 ‘‘(4) Paragraph (3) shall not apply to a veteran en16 rolled or seeking care at a Department facility within a 

17 Department geographic service area that has a compliance 

18 rate, determined over the first quarter of the first cal19 endar-year beginning after the date of the enactment of 

20 this Act, for the standards for access to care under para21 graphs (1) and (2) of 90 percent or more. The Secretary 

22 shall make the determination of the compliance rate for 

23 each Department geographic service area for purposes of 

24 the preceding sentence not later than July 1 of the first 


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1 calendar-year beginning after the date of the enactment 

2 of this Act. 

3 ‘‘(5)(A) The Secretary shall submit to the Commit4 tees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of Rep5 resentatives for each calendar-year quarter, not later than 

6 60 days after the end of the quarter, a comprehensive re7 port on the experience of the Department during the quar8 ter covered by the report with respect to waiting times 

9 for veterans seeking appointments with a Department 

10 health-care provider. 

11 ‘‘(B) Each report under subparagraph (A) shall in12 clude the total number of veterans waiting, shown for each 

13 geographic service area by the following categories: 

14 ‘‘(i) Those waiting under 30 days for scheduled 

15 appointments. 

16 ‘‘(ii) Those waiting over 30 days but less than 

17 60 days. 

18 ‘‘(iii) Those waiting over 60 days but less than 

19 4 months. 

20 ‘‘(iv) Those waiting over 4 months but who can21 not be scheduled within 6 months. 

22 ‘‘(v) Those waiting over 6 months but who can23 not be scheduled within 9 months of seeking care. 

24 ‘‘(vi) Those who cannot be scheduled within one 

25 year of seeking care. 


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1 ‘‘(vii) Any remaining veterans who cannot be 

2 scheduled, with the reasons therefor. 

3 ‘‘(C) For each category set forth in subparagraph 

4 (B), the report shall distinguish between— 

5 ‘‘(i) waiting times for primary care and spe6 cialty care; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) waiting times for veterans who are newly 

8 enrolled versus those who were enrolled before Octo9 ber 1, 2001. 

10 ‘‘(D) Each such report shall also set forth the number 

11 of veterans who have enrolled in the Department’s health 

12 care system but have not since such enrollment sought 

13 care at a Department health care facility. 

14 ‘‘(E) The final report under this paragraph shall be 

15 for the quarter ending on December 31, 2010.’’. 

16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (e) of section 

17 1703 of title 38, United States Code, as added by sub18 section (a), shall take effect on the first day of the first 

19 month beginning more than six months after the date of 

20 the enactment of this Act. The first report under para21 graph (5) of that subsection shall be submitted for the 

22 quarter ending on December 31 of the first calendar year 

23 beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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