I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 552 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that the South Texas 

Veterans Affairs Health Care Center in Harlingen, Texas, includes a 

full-service Department of Veterans Affairs inpatient health care facility. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 6, 2013 

Mr. HINOJOSA (for himself, Mr. VELA, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, 

Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. O’ROURKE, Ms. LINDA

T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, and Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New 

Mexico) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that 

the South Texas Veterans Affairs Health Care Center 

in Harlingen, Texas, includes a full-service Department 

of Veterans Affairs inpatient health care facility. 

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 ‘‘Meeting the Inpatient 

5 Health Care Needs of Far South Texas Veterans Act of 

6 2013’’. 


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•HR 552 IH

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) The current and future health care needs of 

4 veterans residing in the Far South Texas area are 

5 not being fully met by the Department of Veterans 

6 Affairs. 

7 (2) The Department of Veterans Affairs esti8 mates that more than 117,000 veterans reside in 

9 Far South Texas. 

10 (3) In its Capital Asset Realignment for En11 hanced Services study, the Department of Veterans 

12 Affairs found that fewer than 3 percent of its enroll13 ees in the Valley-Coastal Bend Market of Veterans 

14 Integrated Service Network 17 reside within its 

15 acute hospital access standards. 

16 (4) Travel times for veterans from the market 

17 referred to in paragraph (3) can exceed six hours 

18 from their residences to the nearest Department of 

19 Veterans Affairs hospital for acute inpatient health 

20 care. 

21 (5) Even with the significant travel times, vet22 erans from Far South Texas demonstrate a high de23 mand for health care services from the Department 

24 of Veterans Affairs. 

25 (6) Current deployments involving members of 

26 the Texas National Guard and other members of the 


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1 reserve components of the Armed Forces who reside 

2 in Texas will continue to increase demand for med3 ical services provided by the Department of Veterans 

4 Affairs. 

5 SEC. 3. INPATIENT HEALTH CARE AT THE SOUTH TEXAS 

6 VETERANS AFFAIRS HEALTH CARE CENTER. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

8 shall ensure that the South Texas Veterans Affairs Health 

9 Care Center in Harlingen, Texas, includes a full-service 

10 Department of Veterans Affairs inpatient health care fa11 cility and, if necessary, shall modify the existing facility 

12 to meet this requirement. 

13 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

14 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 

15 to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 

16 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep17 resentatives a report outlining the specific actions the Sec18 retary plans to take to satisfy the requirements in sub19 section (a), including a detailed estimate of the cost of 

20 such actions, if any, and the time necessary for completion 

21 of any modification required by such subsection. 

Æ 


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