I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1579 

To create a standard soldier patient tracking system. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 20, 2007 

Mr. BUCHANAN (for himself, Mr. BILIRAKIS, and Mr. SHAYS) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To create a standard soldier patient tracking system. 

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 ‘‘Wounded Warriors 

5 Joint Health Care Patient Tracking Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF A STANDARD SOLDIER PA7 TIENT TRACKING SYSTEM. 

8 (a) REQUIREMENT.—The Surgeons General of the 

9 military departments shall develop a joint soldier tracking 

10 system for medical holdover patients. The Assistant Sec11 retary of Defense for Health Affairs shall have access to 

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1 the tracking system of each military department for pur2 poses of monitoring trends and problems. 

3 (b) FUNCTIONS.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The tracking system devel5 oped under subsection (a) shall allow each medical 

6 holdover patient, each family member of such a pa7 tient, each commander of a military installation re8 taining medical holdover patients, each patient navi9 gator, and ombudsman office personnel, at all times, 

10 to be able to locate and understand exactly where a 

11 patient is in the medical holdover process. 

12 (2) ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS.—The tracking 

13 system also shall be designed to ensure that— 

14 (A) the commander of each military instal15 lation where medical holdover patients are lo16 cated is able to track appointments of such pa17 tients to ensure they are meeting timeliness and 

18 other standards that serve the patient; and 

19 (B) each medical holdover patient is able 

20 to know when his appointments and other med21 ical evaluation board or physical evaluation 

22 board deadlines will be and that they have been 

23 scheduled in a timely and accurate manner. 

24 (c) MATTERS COVERED BY TRACKING SYSTEM.— 

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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

2 the tracking system shall contain, at a minimum, in3 formation on the following: 

4 (A) The location of each medical holdover 

5 patient. 

6 (B) The scheduled and anticipated ap7 pointments of the patient. 

8 (C) The timelines and deadlines of the 

9 processes for evaluating the nature and extent 

10 of disabilities affecting the patient, including 

11 timelines of the medical evaluation board and 

12 physical evaluation board evaluating to the pa13 tient. 

14 (D) Any other information needed to con15 duct oversight of care of the patient throughout 

16 the medical holdover process. 

17 (2) PRIVACY EXCEPTION.—Information relating 

18 to specific medical treatment or conditions, or other 

19 information with privacy concerns, may be withheld 

20 from the tracking system. 

21 (d) UPDATING.—The tracking system shall be up22 dated daily by personnel that have access to the informa23 tion described in subsection (c). 

24 (e) MEDICAL HOLDOVER PATIENT.—In this Act, the 

25 term ‘‘medical holdover patient’’ means a member of the 

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1 Armed Forces, including a member of the National Guard 

2 or other reserve component, who is undergoing medical 

3 treatment, recuperation, or therapy, or is otherwise in 

4 medical hold or holdover status, for an injury, illness, or 

5 disease incurred or aggravated while on active duty in the 

6 Armed Forces. 

7 (f) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to be ap8 propriated to carry out this Act $2,000,000 for fiscal year 

9 2007 and $4,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 and 

10 2009. 

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