II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2401 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish the Office of the Medical 

Inspector within the Office of the Under Secretary for Health of the 

Department of Veterans Affairs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 22, 2014 

Mr. TESTER (for himself, Mr. MORAN, Mr. BEGICH, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. 

WALSH, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and Mrs. MCCASKILL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish the 

Office of the Medical Inspector within the Office of the 

Under Secretary for Health of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

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 ‘‘Increasing Medical 

5 Oversight in the Department of Veterans Affairs Act of 

6 2014’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF THE MEDICAL INSPECTOR. 

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Subchapter I of chapter 73 of 

3 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

4 end the following new section: 

5 ‘‘§ 7310. Office of the Medical Inspector 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the De7 partment within the Office of the Under Secretary for 

8 Health an office to be known as the ‘Office of the Medical 

9 Inspector’ (in this section referred to as the ‘Office’). 

10 ‘‘(b) HEAD.—(1) The Medical Inspector shall be the 

11 head of the Office. 

12 ‘‘(2) The Medical Inspector shall be appointed by the 

13 Secretary from among individuals qualified to perform the 

14 duties of the position. 

15 ‘‘(3) The Medical Inspector shall report directly to 

16 the Under Secretary for Health. 

17 ‘‘(c) FUNCTIONS.—The functions of the Office shall 

18 include the following: 

19 ‘‘(1) To review the quality of health care pro20 vided to veterans— 

21 ‘‘(A) by the Department generally; and 

22 ‘‘(B) by the Department through contracts 

23 with non-Department health care providers. 

24 ‘‘(2) To review offices of the Veterans Health 

25 Administration that have an impact on the quality 

26 of health care provided to veterans by the DepartVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:44 Jun 03, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2401.IS S2401

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1 ment and the performance of the Department in 

2 providing such care. 

3 ‘‘(3) To review offices and facilities of the Vet4 erans Health Administration to ensure that policies 

5 and procedures of the Department and the Veterans 

6 Health Administration are applied consistently at all 

7 such offices and facilities. 

8 ‘‘(4) To investigate any systemic issues, as de9 termined by the Medical Inspector, that arise within 

10 the Veterans Health Administration, including the 

11 following: 

12 ‘‘(A) Improper issuance of credentials and 

13 privileges to health care providers. 

14 ‘‘(B) Impediments to the access of vet15 erans to health care from the Department. 

16 ‘‘(C) Wait times for appointments by vet17 erans at medical facilities of the Department in 

18 excess of wait-time goals established by the De19 partment. 

20 ‘‘(D) Intentional falsification by employees 

21 of the Department of information or data with 

22 respect to wait times for such appointments. 

23 ‘‘(5) To establish temporary investigative teams 

24 to carry out reviews or investigations described in 


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1 paragraphs (1), (2), (3), and (4) in response to spe2 cific incidents or inquiries, including the following: 

3 ‘‘(A) Investigations of complaints by a vet4 eran, a family member of a veteran, or another 

5 individual that may require a visit to a facility 

6 or facilities of the Department. 

7 ‘‘(B) Assessments to examine potential 

8 systemic issues within the Veterans Health Ad9 ministration that may require the conduct of 

10 surveys, the collection of data, and the analysis 

11 of databases of the Department. 

12 ‘‘(6) To recommend policies to promote econ13 omy and efficiency in the administration of, and to 

14 prevent and detect criminal activity, waste, abuse, 

15 and mismanagement in, programs and operations of 

16 the Veterans Health Administration. 

17 ‘‘(7) To carry out any other tasks required of 

18 the Office by the Secretary or the Under Secretary 

19 for Health before, on, or after the date of the enact20 ment of this section. 

21 ‘‘(d) REPORTS.—(1) Not later than 30 days after the 

22 date of the enactment of this section, and periodically 

23 thereafter, the Medical Inspector shall submit to the Sec24 retary, the Under Secretary for Health, and Congress re25 ports on any problems or deficiencies encountered in proVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:44 Jun 03, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2401.IS S2401

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1 grams and operations of the Veterans Health Administra2 tion, including any recommendations for corrective ac3 tions. 

4 ‘‘(2) Each report required by paragraph (1) shall be 

5 made available to the public on an Internet website of the 

6 Department. 

7 ‘‘(3) Any other report prepared by the Medical In8 spector in carrying out the functions of the Office under 

9 this section shall be— 

10 ‘‘(A) submitted to Congress; and 

11 ‘‘(B) made available to the public on an Inter12 net website of the Department. 

13 ‘‘(e) PRIVACY MATTERS.—Any medical or other per14 sonal information obtained by the Office shall be protected 

15 from disclosure or misuse in accordance with the laws on 

16 privacy applicable to such information.’’. 

17 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

18 at the beginning of chapter 73 of such title is amended 

19 by inserting after the item relating to section 7309 the 

20 following new item: 

‘‘7310. Office of the Medical Inspector.’’. 

21 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 7306(a) of 

22 such title is amended by— 

23 (1) redesignating paragraph (10) as paragraph 

24 (11); and 


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1 (2) inserting after paragraph (9) the following 

2 new paragraph (10): 

3 ‘‘(10) The Medical Inspector, who shall be the 

4 head of the Office of the Medical Inspector under 

5 section 7310 of this title.’’. 

6 (d) CONTINUATION IN OFFICE.—The individual serv7 ing as the Medical Inspector of the Department of Vet8 erans Affairs on the day before the date of the enactment 

9 of this Act may serve as the Medical Inspector of the De10 partment of Veterans Affairs after that date until the date 

11 on which the Secretary of Veterans Affairs appoints an 

12 individual to be the Medical Inspector pursuant to section 

13 7310(b)(2) of title 38, United States Code, as added by 

14 subsection (a). 

Æ 


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