II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 715 

To improve the provision of mental health care to members of the Armed 

Forces and veterans from the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 11, 2015 

Mr. DONNELLY (for himself and Mr. WICKER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To improve the provision of mental health care to members 

of the Armed Forces and veterans from the Department 

of Defense and 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 ‘‘Military and Veterans 

5 Mental Health Provider Assessment Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH CARE PRO2 VIDED BY HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS OF THE 

3 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND THE DE4 PARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

5 (a) TRAINING ON RECOGNITION AND MANAGEMENT

6 OF RISK OF SUICIDE.—The Secretary concerned shall en7 sure that all health care providers under the jurisdiction 

8 of such Secretary receive empirically supported training 

9 on the recognition and assessment of individuals at risk 

10 for suicide and the management of such risk not less fre11 quently than once every three years. 

12 (b) EVALUATION OF IMPLEMENTATION OF CLINICAL

13 PRACTICE GUIDELINES AND BEST PRACTICES BY MEN14 TAL HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS.— 

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

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

17 less frequently than once each year thereafter, the 

18 Secretary concerned shall conduct an evaluation of 

19 the implementation by mental health care providers 

20 under the jurisdiction of such Secretary of the clin21 ical practice guidelines recommended for such pro22 viders by such Secretary and other evidence-based 

23 treatments and approaches. 

24 (2) INCLUSION OF RESULTS IN EMPLOYEE PER25 FORMANCE EVALUATIONS.—The Secretary con26 cerned shall incorporate evaluations conducted under 


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1 paragraph (1) into the employee evaluation process 

2 conducted by such Secretary with respect to mental 

3 health care providers to the greatest extent possible. 

4 (c) ASSESSMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH WORK5 FORCE.— 

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

7 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec8 retary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Af9 fairs shall jointly submit to the appropriate commit10 tees of Congress a report assessing the mental 

11 health workforce of the Department of Defense and 

12 the Department of Veterans Affairs and the long13 term mental health care needs of members of the 

14 Armed Forces and veterans for purposes of deter15 mining the long-term need of the Department of De16 fense and the Department of Veterans Affairs for 

17 mental health care providers. 

18 (2) ELEMENTS.—The report submitted under 

19 paragraph (1) shall include an assessment of the fol20 lowing: 

21 (A) The number of mental health care pro22 viders of the Department of Defense and the 

23 Department of Veterans Affairs as of the date 

24 of the submittal of the report, disaggregated by 

25 specialty, including psychiatrists, psychologists, 


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1 social workers, mental health counselors, and 

2 marriage and family therapists. 

3 (B) The number of mental health care pro4 viders that are anticipated to be needed by the 

5 Department of Defense and the Department of 

6 Veterans Affairs. 

7 (C) The types of mental health care pro8 viders that are anticipated to be needed by the 

9 Department of Defense and the Department of 

10 Veterans Affairs. 

11 (D) Locations in which mental health care 

12 providers are anticipated to be needed by the 

13 Department of Defense and the Department of 

14 Veterans Affairs. 

15 (d) PLAN FOR DEVELOPMENT OF PROCEDURES TO

16 MEASURE MENTAL HEALTH DATA.—Not later than 180 

17 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec18 retary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

19 shall jointly submit to the appropriate committees of Con20 gress a plan for the Department of Defense and the De21 partment of Veterans Affairs to jointly develop procedures 

22 to compile and assess data relating to the following: 

23 (1) Outcomes for mental health care provided 

24 by the Department of Defense and the Department 

25 of Veterans Affairs. 


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1 (2) Variations in such outcomes among dif2 ferent medical facilities of the Department of De3 fense and Department of Veterans Affairs. 

4 (3) Barriers, if any, to the implementation by 

5 mental health care providers under the jurisdiction 

6 of the Secretary concerned of the clinical practice 

7 guidelines recommended for such providers by such 

8 Secretary and other evidence-based treatments and 

9 approaches. 

10 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON12 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con13 gress’’ means— 

14 (A) the Committee on Armed Services and 

15 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Sen16 ate; and 

17 (B) the Committee on Armed Services and 

18 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

19 House of Representatives. 

20 (2) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Sec21 retary concerned’’ means— 

22 (A) the Secretary of Defense with respect 

23 to matters concerning the Department of De24 fense; and 


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1 (B) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs with 

2 respect to matters concerning the Department 

3 of Veterans Affairs. 

Æ 


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