I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7504 
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish standards and 
requirements for non-Department mental health care providers partici-
pating in Department of Veterans Affairs Community Care program, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 9, 2020 
Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER (for herself, Mr. BILIRAKIS, and Mr. LEVIN of Cali-
fornia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish 
standards and requirements for non-Department mental 
health care providers participating in Department of Vet-
erans Affairs Community Care program, 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 ‘‘VA Clinical Training 
in Evidence-based treatments And Military Culture Act of 
2020’’ or the ‘‘VA Clinical TEAM Culture Act of 2020’’. 
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SEC. 2. STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS FOR NON-DE-
PARTMENT MENTAL HEALTH CARE PRO-
VIDERS PARTICIPATING IN DEPARTMENT OF 
VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMUNITY CARE PRO-
GRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
shall establish standards and requirements for the provi-
sion of mental health care by non-Department of Veterans 
Affairs health care providers under the Community Care 
program of the Department under section 1703 of title 
38, United States Code. Such standards shall be the same 
as the standards and requirements applicable to Depart-
ment employees who provide such mental health care. 
(b) TRAINING REQUIREMENT.—Not later than the 
date that is 180 days after the date on which a provider 
of mental health care becomes an approved provider under 
the Community Care program of the Department under 
section 1703 of title 38, United States Code, the Secretary 
shall require the provider to complete— 
(1) the basic course described in subsection 
(c)(1); and 
(2) each of the four clinical domain courses de-
scribed in subsection (c)(2). 
(c) COURSES DESCRIBED.— 
(1) BASIC COURSE.—The course described in 
this paragraph is— 
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(A) a free, four-module course, made avail-
able online, that is developed by the Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs about military culture 
and core competencies for health care profes-
sionals; or 
(B) a successor course or other course the 
Secretary determines is comparable to the 
course described in subparagraph (A). 
(2) CLINICAL DOMAIN COURSES.—The courses 
described in this paragraph are free courses, made 
available online, in each of the following clinical do-
mains: 
(A) Evaluation and management of sui-
cide. 
(B) Post-traumatic stress disorder. 
(C) Traumatic brain injury. 
(D) Military sexual trauma. 
(3) CONTINUING EDUCATION.—Each course de-
scribed in this subsection shall be designed to meet 
continuing education requirements for mental health 
care providers. 
(d) ADDITIONAL TRAINING.— 
(1) IDENTIFICATION OF TRAINING AREAS.—Not 
later than two years after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary shall identify at least three 
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clinical domains for which the need for care among 
veterans is high and shall develop training courses in 
those clinical domains. 
(2) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 60 days 
after the training courses developed pursuant to 
paragraph (1) are made available, the Secretary 
shall require all non-Department mental health care 
providers approved under the Community Care pro-
gram of the Department under section 1703 of title 
38, United States Code, to complete the courses. 
(e) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit to 
the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 
House of Representatives an annual report on the require-
ments of this section. Each such report shall include, for 
the year covered by the report, the number of non-Depart-
ment mental health care providers who have completed the 
requirements under this section. 
Æ 
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