I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 6595 
To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
to improve the availability of care for veterans at facilities of the Depart-
ment of Defense. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 10, 2025 
Mr. SCHMIDT (for himself and Ms. ELFRETH) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition 
to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently 
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs to improve the availability of care for 
veterans at facilities of the Department of Defense. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. IMPROVEMENT OF AVAILABILITY OF CARE FOR 
VETERANS 
FROM 
FACILITIES 
AND 
PRO-
VIDERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. 
(a) ACTION PLANS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to the authorities 
under section 8111 of title 38, United States Code, 
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and section 1104 of title 10, United States Code, 
the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs shall develop and implement action 
plans at covered facilities— 
(A) to strengthen sharing of resources be-
tween the Department of Defense and the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs under existing 
statutory authority; 
(B) to improve communication between the 
Department of Veterans Affairs and pertinent 
command and director leadership of military 
medical treatment facilities; 
(C) to increase utilization of military med-
ical treatment facilities with excess capacity or 
space; 
(D) to increase case volume and complexity 
for graduate professional and other medical 
education programs of the Department of De-
fense and the Department of Veterans Affairs; 
and 
(E) to increase access to care for enrolled 
veterans in areas in which a military medical 
treatment facility is located that is identified by 
the Secretary of Defense as having excess ca-
pacity or space. 
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(2) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The action 
plans required under paragraph (1) shall include the 
following: 
(A) Cross-credentialing and privileging of 
health care providers to jointly care for enrolled 
veterans in medical facilities of the Department 
of Defense and the Department of Veterans Af-
fairs. 
(B) Expedited access to installations of the 
Department of Defense for staff of the Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs and enrolled veterans. 
(C) The designation of a coordinator with-
in each covered facility to serve as a liaison be-
tween the Department of Defense and the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs and to lead the 
implementation of such action plan. 
(D) A mechanism for monitoring the effec-
tiveness of such action plan on an ongoing 
basis, to include establishing relevant perform-
ance goals and collecting data to assess 
progress towards those goals. 
(E) Prioritized integration of relevant in-
formation technology and other systems or 
processes to enable seamless information shar-
ing, medical records referrals and ancillary or-
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ders and results, payment methodologies and 
billing processes, and workload attribution when 
personnel of the Department of Veterans Af-
fairs provide services at facilities of the Depart-
ment of Defense or when personnel of the De-
partment of Defense provide services at facili-
ties of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 
(F) An oversight and accountability plan 
for the handling of adverse medical events and 
complaints from patients or staff, including a 
requirement to track any significant adverse 
medical events and provide information on such 
events in the briefing required under subsection 
(f). 
(G) Any other matter that the Secretary of 
Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
consider appropriate. 
(b) APPROVAL OF ACTION PLANS.—Before any ac-
tion plan required under subsection (a) with respect to a 
covered facility shall be considered complete and sub-
mitted to the appropriate committees of Congress pursu-
ant to subsection (e), the Secretary of Defense and the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall ensure that approval 
for the action plan is obtained from— 
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(1) the co-chairs of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs-Department of Defense Joint Executive 
Committee established under section 320 of title 38, 
United States Code; 
(2) the local installation commander for the 
covered facility of the Department of Defense; and 
(3) the director of the relevant medical center 
of the Department of Veterans Affairs with respect 
to any covered facility of the Department of Vet-
erans Affairs. 
(c) REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO SHARING AGREE-
MENTS.— 
(1) LEAD
COORDINATOR.—The Secretary of 
Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
ensure that there is a lead coordinator at each facil-
ity of the Department of Defense or the Department 
of Veterans Affairs, as the case may be, with respect 
to which there is a sharing agreement in place. 
(2) LIST OF AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary of 
Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
maintain on a publicly available website a list of the 
sharing agreements in place between the medical fa-
cilities of the Department of Defense and the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs. 
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(d) PATIENT SAFETY, COMPLAINTS, AND ACCOUNT-
ABILITY.— 
(1) SECURE COMPLAINT PROCESS.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of De-
fense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
shall establish a secure mechanism for enrolled 
veterans to report concerns regarding care re-
ceived under an action plan required under sub-
section (a). 
(B) ELEMENTS
OF
MECHANISM.—The 
mechanism established under subparagraph (A) 
shall protect confidentiality, prohibit retaliation, 
and ensure transmission of each complaint to 
both the Department of Defense and the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs. 
(2) DOCUMENTATION AND REVIEW.— 
(A) DOCUMENTATION.—The Secretary of 
Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
shall maintain records of all complaints, adverse 
events, and safety incidents involving patients 
or staff pursuant to the action plans required 
by subsection (a). 
(B) REVIEW.—The records maintained 
under subparagraph (A) shall be jointly re-
viewed on a quarterly basis by designated offi-
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