I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5500 

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 Office of Community Care and to direct the Secretary to submit 

to Congress an annual report regarding such delayed payments. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 12, 2018 

Mr. ROUZER 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 Office of Community Care 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 OFFICE OF 

4 COMMUNITY CARE. 

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 an eligible claim for emergency hospital care, emergency 

10 medical services, or other emergency health care furnished 

11 through a non-Department of Veterans Affairs provider. 

12 (b) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—During the five-year period 

14 following the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

15 Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall annually submit 

16 to Congress a report on the effectiveness of the Of17 fice of Community Care (or successor office) in pro18 viding timely payment of proper invoices for emer19 gency hospital care, emergency medical services, or 

20 other emergency health care furnished through non21 Department of Veterans Affairs providers by the re22 quired payment date. 

23 (2) PERIODS COVERED.— 

24 (A) The first report submitted under para25 graph (1) shall cover the five-year period pre26 ceding the date of the report, to the greatest 


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1 extent practicable. With respect to covering the 

2 part of such period that occurred before Octo3 ber 1, 2014, the report shall evaluate the provi4 sion by the Veterans Integrated Service Net5 works of payments described in such paragraph. 

6 (B) The reports following the first report 

7 shall each cover the period following the date on 

8 which the prior report was submitted. 

9 (3) MATTERS INCLUDED.—The reports under 

10 paragraph (1) shall include, for the period covered 

11 by the report, the following: 

12 (A) The number of veterans who contacted 

13 the Secretary regarding a delayed payment that 

14 negatively affected, or will potentially negatively 

15 affect, the credit of the veteran. 

16 (B) The number of proper invoices sub17 mitted, listed in a table for each quarter and 

18 fiscal year of each such period that includes— 

19 (i) the total amount owed by the Sec20 retary under the proper invoices; 

21 (ii) the payment status of each proper 

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

23 (iii) the period that elapsed until each 

24 proper invoice was paid, including an ex25 planation of any delayed payment. 


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

3 (D) A description of the best practices that 

4 the Office of Community Care (or successor of5 fice) can carry out to provide timely payment of 

6 a proper invoice, including a plan to improve 

7 such timely payments. 

8 (E) With respect to pending claims for re9 imbursement for emergency hospital care, emer10 gency medical services, and other emergency 

11 health care furnished through non-Department 

12 of Veterans Affairs providers— 

13 (i) the total number of such pending 

14 claims for each hospital system of the De15 partment, as of the last day of the period 

16 covered by the report; 

17 (ii) the total number of veterans who 

18 submitted such a pending claim in each 

19 State, as of such day; 

20 (iii) the aggregate amount of all such 

21 pending claims in each State, as of such 

22 day; 

23 (iv) as of such day— 


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1 (I) the number of such pending 

2 claims that have been pending for 30 

3 days or longer; 

4 (II) the number of such pending 

5 claims that have been pending for 90 

6 days or longer; and 

7 (III) the number of such pending 

8 claims that have been pending for 365 

9 days or longer; and 

10 (v) for each hospital system, for the 

11 period covered by the report— 

12 (I) the number of claims for re13 imbursement for emergency hospital 

14 care, emergency medical services, and 

15 other emergency health care furnished 

16 through non-Department of Veterans 

17 Affairs providers approved during 

18 such quarter; 

19 (II) the number of such claims 

20 denied during such quarter; and 

21 (III) the number of such claims 

22 denied listed by each denial reason 

23 group. 

24 (c) COMPTROLLER GENERAL STUDY.— 


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

2 the United States shall conduct a study that evalu3 ates the effectiveness of the Office of Community 

4 Care in providing timely payment of a proper invoice 

5 for emergency hospital care, emergency medical serv6 ices, or other emergency health care furnished 

7 through non-Department of Veterans Affairs pro8 viders by the required payment date. 

9 (2) SUBMITTAL.—The Comptroller General 

10 shall submit to Congress a report on the study con11 ducted under paragraph (1), including the total 

12 amount of interest penalties paid by the Secretary of 

13 Veterans Affairs under section 3902 of title 31, 

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

15 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 (1) The term ‘‘delayed payment’’ means a prop17 er invoice that is not paid by the Secretary of Vet18 erans Affairs until after the required payment date. 

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

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

21 United States Code. 

22 (3) The term ‘‘required payment date’’ means, 

23 with respect to proper invoices for emergency hos24 pital care, emergency medical services, or other 

25 emergency health care, the date that payment is due 


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1 pursuant to standards determined appropriate by 

2 the Secretary. 

Æ 


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