SEC. 2. IMPLEMENTATION OF AND REPORT ON EFFORTS 
OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO 
IMPROVE 
HEALTH 
CARE 
APPOINTMENT 
SCHEDULING. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs shall submit to the appropriate committees 
of Congress a plan to improve the process for scheduling 
appointments for health care from the Department of Vet-
erans Affairs, including improvements for both patients 
and employees of the Department responsible for sched-
uling such appointments. 
(b) ELEMENTS OF PLAN.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The plan required by sub-
section (a) shall include— 
(A) such actions, resources, technology, 
and process improvements as the Secretary de-
termines necessary to ensure the Department 
achieves, in a timely manner, improved delivery 
of health care, access to health care, customer 
experience and service relating to the receipt of 
health care, and efficiency with respect to the 
delivery of health care; and 
(B) a proposed schedule and timeline to 
carry out such plan. 
(2) OBJECTIVES.— 
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(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall en-
sure that the plan required by subsection (a) 
addresses the following objectives: 
(i) To develop or continue the develop-
ment of a scheduling system that enables 
both personnel and patients of the Depart-
ment to view available appointments for 
care furnished by the Department, includ-
ing primary care, mental health care, and 
all forms of specialty care. 
(ii) To develop or continue the devel-
opment of a self-service scheduling plat-
form, available for use by all patients of 
the Department, which shall— 
(I) enable such patients to view 
available appointments and, subject to 
the method provided under subclause 
(II), fully schedule appointments for 
all care furnished by the Department; 
(II) if a referral is required for 
an appointment, provide a method for 
the patient to request a referral and 
subsequently book an appointment if 
the referral is approved; and 
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(III) provide such patients with 
the ability to cancel or reschedule ap-
pointments. 
(iii) To create a process through 
which all patients of the Department can 
telephonically speak with a scheduler who 
can assist the patient to determine ap-
pointment availability and can fully sched-
ule appointments on behalf of the patient 
for all care furnished by the Department. 
(iv) To carry out such other functions, 
oversight, metric development and track-
ing, change management, cross-Depart-
ment coordination, and other related mat-
ters, including improvements to employee- 
facing information technology, training, 
and processes, as the Secretary determines 
appropriate as it relates to scheduling 
tools, functions, and operations with re-
spect to health care appointments fur-
nished by the Department. 
(B) EXPLANATION OF INABILITY TO IM-
PLEMENT CERTAIN OBJECTIVES, FEATURES, OR 
SERVICES.—If the Secretary determines that an 
objective under subparagraph (A), or any fea-
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ture or service in connection with that objective, 
cannot be implemented or otherwise incor-
porated into a final product pursuant to the 
plan required by subsection (a), the Secretary 
shall include with the plan submitted under 
such subsection a report containing— 
(i) an explanation as to why that ob-
jective, feature, or service cannot be imple-
mented or incorporated, as the case may 
be; and 
(ii) a plan for implementing the plan 
required by subsection (a) without that ob-
jective, feature, or service. 
(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than two years 
after submitting to the appropriate committees of Con-
gress the plan required by subsection (a), the Secretary 
shall fully implement the plan. 
(d) COORDINATION WITH ELECTRONIC HEALTH 
RECORD MODERNIZATION PROGRAM.—In developing the 
plan required by subsection (a), the Secretary shall ensure 
that the elements and objectives of such plan set forth 
under subsection (b) are developed in consideration of the 
deployment schedule and capabilities of the Electronic 
Health Record Modernization Program of the Department 
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to ensure a smooth transition to using the tools and fea-
tures under such plan as relevant and appropriate. 
(e) IMPLEMENTATION REPORTS.—Not later than 
each of one year and two years after the date on which 
the Secretary submits the plan required by subsection (a), 
the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees 
of Congress a report on the progress of the Secretary in 
implementing such plan, including— 
(1) the costs incurred to implement the plan as 
of the date of the report; 
(2) the expected costs to complete implementa-
tion of the plan (including costs for management 
and technology); 
(3) the schedule for deployment of any capabili-
ties developed pursuant to the plan; and 
(4) the goals and metrics achieved, challenges, 
and lessons learned in implementing the plan. 
(f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed to require the Secretary to include 
in the plan required by subsection (a) any technology or 
process that would preclude or impede the ability of a vet-
eran to contact or schedule an appointment directly with 
a facility or provider through a non-online scheduling 
process, should the veteran choose to do so. 
(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
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(1) 
APPROPRIATE
COMMITTEES
OF
CON-
GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-
gress’’ means the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 
the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
of the House of Representatives. 
(2) FULLY SCHEDULE.—The term ‘‘fully sched-
ule’’, with respect to an appointment for health care, 
means that the appointment booking is completed, 
rather than simply requested. 
Æ 
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