II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 564 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to include licensed hearing aid 

specialists as eligible for appointment in the Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 25, 2015 

Mr. MORAN (for himself and Mr. TESTER) 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 include licensed 

hearing aid specialists as eligible for appointment in the 

Veterans Health Administration of the Department of 

Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

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 Hearing Aid 

5 Access and Assistance Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. APPOINTMENT OF LICENSED HEARING AID SPE2 CIALISTS IN VETERANS HEALTH ADMINIS3 TRATION. 

4 (a) LICENSED HEARING AID SPECIALISTS.— 

5 (1) APPOINTMENT.—Section 7401(3) of title 

6 38, United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘li7 censed hearing aid specialists,’’ after ‘‘Audiol8 ogists,’’. 

9 (2) QUALIFICATIONS.—Section 7402(b)(14) of 

10 such title is amended by inserting ‘‘licensed hearing 

11 aid specialist,’’ after ‘‘licensed physical therapist,’’. 

12 (b) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

14 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and not 

15 less frequently than once each year thereafter, the 

16 Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Con17 gress a report on the following: 

18 (A) Timely access of veterans to hearing 

19 health services through the Department of Vet20 erans Affairs. 

21 (B) Contracting policies of the Department 

22 with respect to providing hearing health serv23 ices to veterans in facilities that are not facili24 ties of the Department. 

25 (2) TIMELY ACCESS TO SERVICES.—Each re26 port under paragraph (1) shall, with respect to the 


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1 matter specified in paragraph (1)(A) for the one2 year period preceding the submittal of such report, 

3 include the following: 

4 (A) The staffing levels of audiologists, 

5 hearing aid specialists, and health technicians 

6 in audiology in the Veterans Health Adminis7 tration. 

8 (B) A description of the metrics used by 

9 the Secretary in measuring performance with 

10 respect to appointments and care relating to 

11 hearing health. 

12 (C) The average time that a veteran waits 

13 to receive an appointment, beginning on the 

14 date on which the veteran makes the request, 

15 for the following: 

16 (i) A disability rating evaluation for a 

17 hearing-related disability. 

18 (ii) A hearing aid evaluation. 

19 (iii) Dispensing of hearing aids. 

20 (iv) Any follow-up hearing health ap21 pointment. 

22 (D) The percentage of veterans whose total 

23 wait time for appointments described in sub24 paragraph (C), including an initial and follow25 up appointment, if applicable, is— 


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1 (i) less than 15 days; 

2 (ii) between 15 days and 28 days; 

3 (iii) between 29 days and 42 days; 

4 (iv) between 43 days and 56 days; or 

5 (v) more than 56 days. 

6 (3) CONTRACTING POLICIES.—Each report 

7 under paragraph (1) shall, with respect to the mat8 ter specified in paragraph (1)(B) for the one-year 

9 period preceding the submittal of such report, in10 clude the following: 

11 (A) The number of veterans that the Sec12 retary refers to non-Department audiologists 

13 for hearing health care appointments. 

14 (B) Of the veterans described in subpara15 graph (A), the number of veterans that the Sec16 retary refers to non-Department hearing aid 

17 specialists for follow-up appointments for a 

18 hearing aid evaluation, the dispensing of hear19 ing aids, or any other purpose relating to hear20 ing health. 

21 (C) The policies of the Veterans Health 

22 Administration regarding the referral of vet23 erans to non-Department hearing aid specialists 

24 and a description of the manner in which such 

25 policies will be applied under the Patient-CenVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:18 Mar 05, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S564.IS S564

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1 tered Community Care program of the Depart2 ment. 

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