I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7441 
To expedite hiring by the Department of Veterans Affairs of medical depart-
ment personnel separating from the Armed Forces, and for other pur-
poses. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 1, 2020 
Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana (for herself and Miss RICE of New York) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Af-
fairs, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period 
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To expedite hiring by the Department of Veterans Affairs 
of medical department personnel separating from the 
Armed Forces, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hire Veteran Health 
Heroes Act of 2020’’. 
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SEC. 2. EXPEDITED HIRING BY DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 
AFFAIRS OF MEDICAL DEPARTMENT PER-
SONNEL SEPARATING FROM THE ARMED 
FORCES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall 
conduct recruitment for covered medical personnel posi-
tions from among medical department personnel of the 
Department of Defense who hold medical military occupa-
tional specialties and are separating from the Armed 
Forces. 
(b) TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.—Recruit-
ment shall be conducted under subsection (a) for sepa-
rating members of the Armed Forces as part of the Tran-
sition Assistance Program conducted for such members. 
(c) ELEMENTS OF RECRUITMENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense, in 
collaboration with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 
shall schedule regular briefing times for all medical 
department personnel of the Department of Defense 
who are separating from the Armed Forces to be 
briefed by a supervisor or technician from a human 
resources office of the Veterans Health Administra-
tion on— 
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(A) employment opportunities with the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs throughout the 
United States; 
(B) options for careers with the Depart-
ment in a covered medical personnel position; 
and 
(C) the expedited recruitment and hiring 
process under this section. 
(2) ONE-ON-ONE APPOINTMENTS.—The super-
visor or technician conducting the briefing under 
paragraph (1) shall— 
(A) schedule a one-on-one appointment for 
each separating medical department personnel 
member who wishes to meet to review covered 
medical personnel positions that are available; 
and 
(B) accept applications for such positions. 
(d) HIRING.— 
(1) TENTATIVE OFFER.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The supervisor or tech-
nician conducting the briefing under subsection 
(c)(1) and accepting applications under sub-
section (c)(2)(B) may tentatively offer appli-
cants for covered medical personnel positions 
who agree to accept the position and meet a 
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preliminary qualification review established by 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs such a posi-
tion at a medical facility of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs. 
(B) TIMING.—A tentative offer under sub-
paragraph (A) to a member of the Armed 
Forces participating in the recruitment and hir-
ing process under this section may be made 
during the period beginning on the date that is 
90 days before the separation of the member 
from the Armed Forces and ending on the date 
that is 90 days after such separation. 
(2) FINAL OFFER.—After conducting the ten-
tative offer process for an individual under para-
graph (1), the supervisor or technician shall trans-
mit information on and credentials for the individual 
to the medical facility at which the individual would 
be hired for final verification and interviews to com-
plete the hiring process and possibly present a final 
offer. 
(3) CONDUCT OF HIRING PROCESS.—Notwith-
standing any other provision of law, the Secretary 
may hire individuals under this section through di-
rect, non-competitive, and other hiring processes as 
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the Secretary considers appropriate to carry out this 
section. 
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) COVERED
MEDICAL
PERSONNEL
POSI-
TION.—The term ‘‘covered medical personnel posi-
tion’’ means a medical personnel position at all 
grades within the Department of Veterans Affairs 
employed under— 
(A) the General Schedule under subchapter 
III of chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code; 
(B) the prevailing rate system under sub-
chapter IV of such chapter; 
(C) section 7425 of title 38, United States 
Code; or 
(D) a hybrid authority. 
(2) TRANSITION
ASSISTANCE
PROGRAM.—The 
term ‘‘Transition Assistance Program’’ means the 
Transition Assistance Program under sections 1142 
and 1144 of title 10, United States Code. 
Æ 
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