HR 3530 RFS
each medical center of the Department, in a consistent 
manner, carries out— 
‘‘(A) ongoing, retrospective, and comprehensive moni-
toring of the performance and quality of the health care 
delivered by each health care professional of the Depart-
ment located at the medical center, including with respect 
to the safety of such care; and 
‘‘(B) timely and documented reviews of such care if 
an individual notifies the Secretary of any potential con-
cerns relating to a failure of the health care professional 
to meet generally accepted standards of clinical practice 
in a manner that presents reasonable concern for the safe-
ty of patients. 
‘‘(2) The Secretary shall establish a policy to carry 
out paragraph (1), including with respect to— 
‘‘(A) determining the period by which a medical 
center of the Department must initiate the review of 
a concern described in subparagraph (B) of such 
paragraph following the date on which the concern 
is received; and 
‘‘(B) ensuring the compliance of each medical 
center with such policy. 
‘‘(d) COMPLIANCE WITH REQUIREMENTS FOR RE-
PORTING QUALITY OF CARE CONCERNS.—When the Sec-
retary substantiates a concern relating to the clinical com-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:15 Dec 19, 2019
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3530.RFS
H3530
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
HR 3530 RFS
petency of, or quality of care delivered by, a health care 
professional of the Department (including a former such 
health care professional), the Secretary shall ensure that 
the appropriate medical center of the Department timely 
notifies the following entities of such concern, as appro-
priate: 
‘‘(1) The appropriate licensing, registration, or 
certification body in each State in which the health 
care professional is licensed, registered, or certified. 
‘‘(2) The Drug Enforcement Administration. 
‘‘(3) The National Practitioner Data Bank es-
tablished pursuant to the Health Care Quality Im-
provement Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11101 et seq.). 
‘‘(4) Any other relevant entity. 
‘‘(e) 
PROHIBITION
ON
CERTAIN
SETTLEMENT 
AGREEMENT TERMS.—(1) Except as provided by para-
graph (2), the Secretary may not enter into a settlement 
agreement relating to an adverse action against a health 
care professional of the Department if such agreement in-
cludes terms that require the Secretary to conceal from 
the personnel file of the employee a serious medical error 
or lapse in clinical practice that constitutes a substantial 
failure to meet generally accepted standards of clinical 
practice as to raise reasonable concern for the safety of 
patients. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:15 Dec 19, 2019
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3530.RFS
H3530
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
HR 3530 RFS
‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) does not apply to adverse actions 
that the Special Counsel under section 1211 of title 5 de-
termines constitutes a prohibited personnel practice. 
‘‘(f) TRAINING.—Not less frequently than biannually, 
the Secretary shall provide mandatory training to employ-
ees of each medical center of the Department who are re-
sponsible for any of the following activities: 
‘‘(1) Compiling, validating, or reviewing the cre-
dentials of health care professionals of the Depart-
ment. 
‘‘(2) Reviewing the quality of clinical care deliv-
ered by health care professionals of the Department. 
‘‘(3) Taking adverse privileging actions or mak-
ing determinations relating to other disciplinary ac-
tions or employment actions against health care pro-
fessionals of the Department for reasons relating to 
the failure of a health care professional to meet gen-
erally accepted standards of clinical practice in a 
manner that presents reasonable concern for the 
safety of patients. 
‘‘(4) Making notifications under subsection (d). 
‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘controlled substance’ has the 
meaning given that term in section 102 of the Con-
trolled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802). 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:15 Dec 19, 2019
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3530.RFS
H3530
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
HR 3530 RFS
‘‘(2) The term ‘covered health care professional’ 
means a person employed in a position as a health 
care professional of the Department, or a contractor 
of the Department, that requires the person to be 
authorized to prescribe, dispense, administer, or con-
duct research with, controlled substances. 
‘‘(3) The term ‘Drug Enforcement Administra-
tion registration’ means registration with the Drug 
Enforcement Administration under section 303 of 
the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 823) by 
health care practitioners authorized to dispense, pre-
scribe, administer, or conduct research with, con-
trolled substances. 
‘‘(4) The term ‘health care professional of the 
Department’ means the professionals described in 
section 1730C(b) of this title, and includes a con-
tractor of the Department serving as such a profes-
sional.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 
after the item relating to section 7413 the following new 
item: 
‘‘7414. Compliance with requirements for examining qualifications and clinical 
abilities of health care professionals.’’. 
(c) DEADLINE
FOR IMPLEMENTATION.—The Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs shall commence the implemen-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:15 Dec 19, 2019
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3530.RFS
H3530
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
HR 3530 RFS
tation of section 7414 of title 38, United States Code, as 
added by subsection (a), by the following dates: 
(1) With respect to subsections (a), (c)(2), (d), 
and (f), not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act. 
(2) With respect to subsection (c)(1), not later 
than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. 
(3) With respect to subsection (b)(2), not later 
than 18 months after the date of the enactment of 
this Act. 
(d) AUDITS AND REPORTS.— 
(1) AUDITS.—The Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs shall carry out annual audits of the compliance 
of medical centers of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs with the matters required by section 7414 of 
title 38, United States Code, as added by subsection 
(a). In carrying out such audits, the Secretary— 
(A) may not authorize the medical center 
being audited to conduct the audit; and 
(B) may enter into an agreement with an-
other department or agency of the Federal Gov-
ernment or a nongovernmental entity to con-
duct such audits. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:15 Dec 19, 2019
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3530.RFS
H3530
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
HR 3530 RFS
(2) REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 
thereafter for 5 years, the Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ 
Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Sen-
ate a report on the audits conducted under para-
graph (1). Each such report shall include a sum-
mary of the compliance by each medical center with 
the matters required by such section 7414. 
(3) INITIAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall in-
clude in the first report submitted under paragraph 
(2) the following: 
(A) A description of the progress made by 
the Secretary in implementing such section 
7414, including any matters under such section 
that the Secretary has not fully implemented. 
(B) An analysis of the feasibility, advis-
ability, and cost of requiring credentialing em-
ployees of the Department to be trained by an 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
03:15 Dec 19, 2019
Jkt 099200
PO 00000
Frm 00010
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3530.RFS
H3530
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS