IIB
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2792
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
OCTOBER 24, 2001
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
AN ACT
To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make service dogs avail-
able to disabled veterans and to make various other
improvements in health care benefits provided by the
Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Disabled Veterans Service Dog and Health Care Im-
provement Act of 2001’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
TITLE I—VETERANS HEALTH CARE IMPROVEMENT
Sec. 101. Authorization for Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide service
dogs for disabled veterans.
Sec. 102. Maintenance of capacity for specialized treatment and rehabilitative
needs of disabled veterans.
Sec. 103. Threshold for veterans health care eligibility means test to reflect lo-
cality cost-of-living variations.
Sec. 104. Assessment and report on special telephone services for veterans.
Sec. 105. Recodification of bereavement counseling authority and certain other
health-related authorities.
Sec. 106. Extension of expiring collections authorities.
Sec. 107. Personal emergency response system for veterans with service-con-
nected disabilities.
TITLE II—CHIROPRACTIC SERVICES PROGRAM
Sec. 201. Chiropractic Service established in the Veterans Health Administra-
tion.
Sec. 202. Availability of chiropractic care to veterans.
Sec. 203. Chiropractic providers.
Sec. 204. Scope of services; enrollment.
Sec. 205. Training and information.
Sec. 206. Advisory committee.
Sec. 207. Implementation report.
TITLE III—NATIONAL COMMISSION ON VA NURSING
Sec. 301. Establishment of Commission.
Sec. 302. Duties of Commission.
Sec. 303. Reports.
Sec. 304. Powers.
Sec. 305. Personnel matters.
Sec. 306. Termination of the Commission.
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TITLE I—VETERANS HEALTH
CARE IMPROVEMENT
SEC. 101. AUTHORIZATION FOR SECRETARY OF VETERANS
AFFAIRS TO PROVIDE SERVICE DOGS FOR
DISABLED VETERANS.
(a) AUTHORITY.—Section 1714 of title 38, United
States Code, is amended—
(1) in subsection (b)—
(A) by striking ‘‘seeing-eye or’’ the first
place it appears;
(B) by striking ‘‘who are entitled to dis-
ability compensation’’ and inserting ‘‘who are
enrolled under section 1705 of this title’’;
(C) by striking ‘‘, and may pay’’ and all
that follows through ‘‘such seeing-eye or guide
dogs’’; and
(D) by striking ‘‘handicap’’ and inserting
‘‘disability’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new sub-
sections:
‘‘(c) The Secretary may, in accordance with the pri-
ority specified in section 1705 of this title, provide—
‘‘(1) service dogs trained for the aid of the
hearing impaired to veterans who are hearing im-
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paired and are enrolled under section 1705 of this
title; and
‘‘(2) service dogs trained for the aid of persons
with spinal cord injury or dysfunction or other
chronic impairment that substantially limits mobility
to veterans with such injury, dysfunction, or impair-
ment who are enrolled under section 1705 of this
title.
‘‘(d) In the case of a veteran provided a dog under
subsection (b) or (c), the Secretary may pay travel and
incidental expenses for that veteran under the terms and
conditions set forth in section 111 of this title to and from
the veteran’s home for expenses incurred in becoming ad-
justed to the dog.’’.
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—
(1) The heading for such section is amended to
read as follows:
‘‘§ 1714. Fitting and training in use of prosthetic ap-
pliances; guide dogs; service dogs’’.
(2) The item relating to such section in the
table of sections at the beginning of chapter 17 of
such title is amended to read as follows:
‘‘1714. Fitting and training in use of prosthetic appliances; guide dogs; service
dogs.’’.
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SEC. 102. MAINTENANCE OF CAPACITY FOR SPECIALIZED
TREATMENT AND REHABILITATIVE NEEDS OF
DISABLED VETERANS.
(a) MAINTENANCE OF CAPACITY ON A SERVICE-NET-
WORK BASIS.—Section 1706(b) of title 38, United States
Code, is amended—
(2) in paragraph (1)—
(A) in the first sentence, by inserting
‘‘(and each geographic service area of the Vet-
erans Health Administration)’’ after ‘‘ensure
that the Department’’; and
(B) in clause (B), by inserting ‘‘(and each
geographic service area of the Veterans Health
Administration)’’ after ‘‘overall capacity of the
Department’’; and
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as
paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively;
(3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-
lowing new paragraphs (2) and (3):
‘‘(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the capacity of
the Department (and each geographic service area of the
Veterans Health Administration) to provide for the spe-
cialized treatment and rehabilitative needs of disabled vet-
erans (including veterans with spinal cord dysfunction,
traumatic brain injury, blindness, prosthetics and sensory
aids, and mental illness) within distinct programs or facili-
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ties shall be measured for seriously mentally ill veterans
as follows (with all such data to be provided by geographic
service area and totaled nationally):
‘‘(A) For mental health intensive community-
based care, the number of discrete intensive care
teams constituted to provide such intensive services
to seriously mentally ill veterans and the number of
veterans provided such care.
‘‘(B) For opioid substitution programs and for
traumatic brain injury, the number of patients treat-
ed annually and the amounts expended.
‘‘(C) For dual-diagnosis patients, the number
treated annually and the amounts expended.
‘‘(D) For substance abuse programs—
‘‘(i) the number of substance-use disorder
beds (whether hospital, nursing home, or other
designated beds) employed and the average bed
occupancy of such beds;
‘‘(ii) the percentage of unique patients ad-
mitted directly to substance abuse outpatient
care during the fiscal year who had two or more
additional visits to specialized substance abuse
outpatient care within 30 days of their first
visit, with a comparison from 1996 until the
date of the report;
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‘‘(iii) the percentage of unique inpatients
with substance abuse diagnoses treated during
the fiscal year who had one or more specialized
substance abuse clinic visits within three days
of their index discharge, with a comparison
from 1996 until the date of the report; and
‘‘(iv) the percentage of unique outpatients
seen in a facility or service network during the
fiscal year who had one or more specialized sub-
stance abuse clinic visits, with a comparison
from 1996 until the date of the report.
‘‘(E) For mental health programs, the number
and type of staff that are available at each facility
to provide specialized mental health treatment, in-
cluding satellite clinics, outpatient programs, and
community-based outpatient clinics, with a trend line
comparison from 1996 to the date of the report.
‘‘(F) The number of such clinics providing men-
tal health care, the number and type of mental
health staff at each such clinic, and the type of men-
tal health programs at each such clinic.
‘‘(3) For purposes of paragraph (1), the capacity of
the Department (and each geographic service area of the
Veterans Health Administration) to provide for the spe-
cialized treatment and rehabilitative needs of disabled vet-
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erans within distinct programs or facilities shall be meas-
ured for veterans with spinal cord dysfunction, traumatic
brain injury, blindness, or prosthetics and sensory aids as
follows (with all such data to be provided by geographic
service area and totaled nationally):
‘‘(A) For spinal cord injury/dysfunction special-
ized centers and for blind rehabilitation specialized
centers, the number of staffed beds and the number
of full-time equivalent employees assigned to provide
care at such centers.
‘‘(B) For prosthetics and sensory aids, the an-
nual amount expended.’’.
(b) EXTENSION
OF ANNUAL REPORT REQUIRE-
MENT.—Paragraph (3) of such section, as so redesignated,
is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘April 1, 1999, April 1, 2000,
and April 1, 2001’’ and inserting ‘‘April 1 of each
year through 2004’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new sen-
tence: ‘‘The accuracy of each such report shall be
certified by, or otherwise commented upon by, the
Inspector General of the Department.’’.
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SEC. 103. THRESHOLD FOR VETERANS HEALTH CARE ELI-
GIBILITY MEANS TEST TO REFLECT LOCAL-
ITY COST-OF-LIVING VARIATIONS.
(a) REVISED THRESHOLD.—Subsection (b) of section
1722 of title 38, United States Code, is amended to read
as follows:
‘‘(b)(1) For purposes of subsection (a)(3), the income
threshold applicable to a veteran is the amount determined
under paragraph (2).
‘‘(2) The amount determined under this paragraph
for a veteran is the greater of the following:
‘‘(A) For any calendar year after 2000—
‘‘(i) in the case of a veteran with no de-
pendents, $23,688, as adjusted under sub-
section (c); or
‘‘(ii) in the case of a veteran with one or
more dependents, $28,429, as so adjusted, plus
$1,586, as so adjusted, for each dependent in
excess of one.
‘‘(B) The amount in effect under the HUD Low
Income Index that is applicable in the area in which
the veteran resides.
‘‘(3) For purposes of paragraph (2)(B), the term
‘HUD Low Income Index’ means the family income ceiling
amounts determined by the Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development under section 3(b)(2) of the United
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States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)(2)) for
purposes of the determination of ‘low-income families’
under that section.’’.
(c) CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—(1) Subsection
(a)(3) of such section is amended by striking ‘‘amount set
forth in’’ and inserting ‘‘income threshold determined
under’’.
(2) Subsection (c) of such section is amended by
striking ‘‘subsection (b)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection
(b)(2)(A)’’.
(d) LIMITATION ON RESOURCE REALLOCATIONS.—
Within the amount appropriated to the Department of
Veterans Affairs for medical care for each of fiscal years
2002 through 2006. the amount that would otherwise be
allocated by the Secretary to any geographic service region
of the Veterans Health Administration in accordance with
the established resource allocation procedures of the De-
partment may not be increased or decreased by more than
5 percent by reason of the implementation of this section.
(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section shall take effect on April 1, 2002.
SEC. 104. ASSESSMENT AND REPORT ON SPECIAL TELE-
PHONE SERVICES FOR VETERANS.
(a) ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT SERVICES.—The Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs shall carry out an assessment
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of all special telephone services for veterans (such as
helplines and hotlines) provided by the Department of Vet-
erans Affairs. The assessment shall include the geo-
graphical coverage, availability, utilization, effectiveness,
management, coordination, staffing, and cost of those
services. As part of such assessment, the Secretary shall
conduct a survey of veterans to measure their satisfaction
with current special telephone services and the demand for
additional services.
(b) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit
to Congress a report on the assessment carried out under
subsection (a). The Secretary shall include in the report
recommendations regarding any needed improvement to
such services and recommendations regarding contracting
for the performance of such services.
SEC. 105. RECODIFICATION OF BEREAVEMENT COUN-
SELING AUTHORITY AND CERTAIN OTHER
HEALTH-RELATED AUTHORITIES.
(a) STATUTORY REORGANIZATION.—Subchapter I of
chapter 17 of title 38, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in section 1701(6)—
(A) by striking subparagraph (B) and the
sentence following that subparagraph;