116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 221 

AN ACT 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Under 

Secretary of Health to report major adverse personnel 

actions involving certain health care employees to the 

National Practitioner Data Bank and to applicable State 

licensing boards, and for other purposes. 
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†S 221 ES

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 ‘‘Department of Vet5 erans Affairs Provider Accountability Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ACCOUNTABILITY WITHIN VETERANS HEALTH AD7 MINISTRATION. 

8 (a) REPORTING MAJOR ADVERSE ACTIONS TO NA9 TIONAL PRACTITIONER DATA BANK AND STATE LICENS10 ING BOARDS.—Section 7461 of title 38, United States 

11 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 

12 subsection: 

13 ‘‘(f)(1) Whenever the Under Secretary for Health (or 

14 an official designated by the Under Secretary) brings 

15 charges based on conduct or performance against a section 

16 7401(1) employee and as a result of those charges a cov17 ered major adverse action is taken against the employee, 

18 the Under Secretary shall, not later than 30 days after 

19 the date on which such covered major adverse action is 

20 carried out— 

21 ‘‘(A) transmit to the National Practitioner Data 

22 Bank of the Department of Health and Human 

23 Services and the applicable State licensing board the 

24 name of the employee, a description of the covered 
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1 major adverse action, and a description of the rea2 son for the covered major adverse action; and 

3 ‘‘(B) update the VetPro System, or successor 

4 system, with a record of the covered major adverse 

5 action taken and an indication that information was 

6 transmitted under subparagraph (A). 

7 ‘‘(2) The Under Secretary for Health— 

8 ‘‘(A) shall enroll all 7401(1) employees in a 

9 continuous query of their record within the National 

10 Practitioner Data Bank; and 

11 ‘‘(B) shall develop and implement a mechanism 

12 for maintaining and updating the information col13 lected through such continuous query within the 

14 VetPro System, or successor system, to facilitate the 

15 sharing of such information between Veterans Inte16 grated Service Networks. 

17 ‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘covered major ad18 verse action’ means a major adverse action with respect 

19 to a section 7401(1) employee that originated from cir20 cumstances in which the behavior of the employee so sub21 stantially failed to meet generally-accepted standards of 

22 clinical practice as to raise reasonable concern for safety 

23 of patients.’’. 

24 (b) PROHIBITION ON SIGNING SETTLEMENTS WITH

25 CERTAIN CLAUSES.— 
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para2 graph (2), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not 

3 enter into a settlement agreement relating to an ad4 verse action against a section 7401(1) employee 

5 under which the Department of Veterans Affairs 

6 would be required to conceal a serious medical error 

7 or a lapse in generally-accepted standards of clinical 

8 practice. 

9 (2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

10 apply to a negative record if the head of the Office 

11 of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection of 

12 the Department and the Special Counsel (established 

13 by section 1211 of title 5, United States Code) joint14 ly certify that the negative record is not legitimate. 

15 (c) TRAINING ON CREDENTIALING AND PRIVI16 LEGING.—The Under Secretary for Health of the Depart17 ment of Veterans Affairs shall provide to all staff of the 

18 Veterans Health Administration who handle hiring, privi19 leging, and credentialing mandatory training on— 

20 (1) all policies of the Veterans Health Adminis21 tration for credentialing and privileging; and 

22 (2) when and how to report adverse actions to 

23 the National Practitioner Data Bank of the Depart24 ment of Health and Human Services, State licensing 

25 boards, and other relevant entities. 
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1 (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS ON UPDATES TO THE VHA 

2 HANDBOOK.—It is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) Congress recognizes that the confusion re4 garding practices in the Veterans Health Adminis5 tration for reporting to State licensing boards stems 

6 from a lack of guidance in the Veterans Health Ad7 ministration handbook 1100.18; 

8 (2) Congress strongly recommends that the 

9 Secretary of Veterans Affairs update such handbook 

10 to ensure that employees of the Veterans Health Ad11 ministration, officials of the Veterans Integrated 

12 Services Networks, and officials of the Department 

13 of Veterans Affairs understand and are able to uti14 lize the role of State licensing boards to effectively 

15 prevent instances of failed reporting and future pa16 tient safety concerns; 

17 (3) Congress recognizes the broad authority of 

18 the Veterans Health Administration to report to 

19 State licensing boards those employed or separated 

20 health care professionals whose behavior and clinical 

21 practice so substantially failed to meet generally-ac22 cepted standards of clinical practice as to raise rea23 sonable concern for safety of patients and requests 

24 that such handbook is updated to reflect appropriate 
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1 reporting channels to ensure employee under2 standing of those procedures and authorities; and 

3 (4) in developing the new handbook, the Sec4 retary of Veterans Affairs should consult with— 

5 (A) State licensing boards; 

6 (B) the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

7 Services; 

8 (C) the National Practitioner Data Bank 

9 of the Department of Health and Human Serv10 ices; and 

11 (D) the exclusive representative of section 

12 7401(1) employees. 

13 (e) SECTION 7401(1) EMPLOYEE DEFINED.—In this 

14 section, the term ‘‘section 7401(1) employee’’ has the 

15 meaning given that term in section 7461(c)(1) of title 38, 

16 United States Code. 

Passed the Senate December 19, 2019. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 221 

AN ACT 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to require 

and for other purposes. Bank and to applicable State licensing boards, care employees to the National Practitioner Data adverse personnel actions involving certain health the Under Secretary of Health to report major