I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4728 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish the office of the Health 
Monitor of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 21, 2017 
Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish the 
office of the Health Monitor of the Department of Vet-
erans Affairs, 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 ‘‘Fixing VHA Facilities 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. HEALTH MONITOR. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 3 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 312A 
the following new section: 
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‘‘§ 312B. Health Monitor. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) There is in the Department 
a Health Monitor who shall appointed by the Secretary. 
‘‘(2) The Health Monitor shall report to the Inspector 
General in the discharge of the duties of the Health Mon-
itor under subsection (c). The Inspector General may not 
terminate the Health Monitor until 60 days after the date 
the Inspector General notifies Congress of such impending 
termination. 
‘‘(3) In discharging the duties under subsection (c), 
the Health Monitor shall have the powers of an Inspector 
General under section 6 of the Inspector General Act of 
1978 (5 U.S.C. App.). 
‘‘(b) QUALIFICATIONS.—Each individual appointed 
as Health Monitor shall be an individual who has sub-
stantive professional experience in at least one of the fol-
lowing areas: 
‘‘(1) Federal oversight. 
‘‘(2) Health care administration. 
‘‘(3) Health care delivery. 
‘‘(4) Patient advocacy. 
‘‘(c) DUTIES.—(1) Not later than 60 days after the 
issuance of the end-of-year relative performance star rat-
ings (in this section referred to as ‘Star Ratings’) for each 
fiscal year, the Health Monitor shall identify and transmit 
a list of specific improvement recommendations for each 
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medical center of the Department that received fewer than 
three stars in the Star Ratings for the most recent fiscal 
year. The Health Monitor shall transmit each such list 
to— 
‘‘(A) the Director of the medical center named 
in the list; 
‘‘(B) the Secretary; 
‘‘(C) the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of 
the Senate and the House of Representatives; 
‘‘(D) the Senators for the State in which the 
medical center is located; and 
‘‘(E) the Representative in whose congressional 
district the medical center is located. 
‘‘(2) Not later than 180 days after the Health Mon-
itor transmits a list under paragraph (1), the Health Mon-
itor shall submit a report to the recipients of that list a 
report that identifies— 
‘‘(A) the extent to which the Director of the 
medical center implemented the plan; 
‘‘(B) any change in the performance of the 
medical center.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 
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after the item relating to section 312A the following new 
item: 
‘‘312B. Health Monitor.’’. 
Æ 
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