I 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4971 
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct annual surveys of 
veterans on experiences obtaining hospital care and medical services 
from medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 25, 2014 
Mr. O’ROURKE (for himself, Mr. FLORES, Ms. GABBARD, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. 
ISRAEL, Mr. JOLLY, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. SWALWELL of 
California, Ms. HANABUSA, Ms. HAHN, and Mr. THOMPSON of Cali-
fornia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct annual 
surveys of veterans on experiences obtaining hospital care 
and medical services from medical facilities of the De-
partment of Veterans 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 ‘‘Ask Veterans Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. SURVEY OF VETERAN EXPERIENCES WITH DEPART-
MENT 
OF 
VETERANS 
AFFAIRS 
MEDICAL 
CARE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
shall seek to enter into a contract with a non-government 
entity with significant experience conducting scientifically 
verifiable surveys and research to conduct an annual sur-
vey of a statistically significant sample of veterans who 
reside in the geographic area served by each of the medical 
facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to deter-
mine the nature of the experiences of such veterans in ob-
taining hospital care and medical services furnished by the 
Secretary at each such medical facility. Each such survey 
shall be conducted using scientific and verifiable methods. 
Such contract shall provide that the non-government enti-
ty shall conduct such annual surveys during the five-year 
period beginning on the date on which the Secretary en-
ters into the contract with the non-government entity. 
(b) CONTENTS.—The contract entered into under 
subsection (a) shall provide that each survey conducted 
pursuant to the contract shall be specific to a medical fa-
cility of the Department and shall include questions relat-
ing to the experiences of veterans in requesting and receiv-
ing appointments for hospital care and medical services 
furnished by the Secretary at that medical facility, includ-
ing questions relating to each of the following: 
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(1) The veteran’s ability to obtain hospital care 
and medical services at the facility in a timely man-
ner. 
(2) The period of time between the date on 
which the veteran requests an appointment at the 
facility and the date on which the appointment is 
scheduled. 
(3) The frequency with which scheduled ap-
pointments are cancelled by the facility. 
(4) The quality of hospital care or medical serv-
ices the veteran has received at the facility. 
(c) CONSULTATION.—The contract entered into 
under subsection (a) shall provide that in designing and 
conducting the surveys for each medical facility of the De-
partment pursuant to such contract, the non-government 
entity shall consult with veterans service organizations. 
(d) CERTIFICATION.—The contract entered into 
under subsection (a) shall provide that— 
(1) before conducting a survey pursuant to the 
contract, the non-government entity shall submit the 
proposed survey to the Comptroller General who 
shall assess whether the survey is scientifically valid 
and whether the proposed sample size of veterans to 
be surveyed is statistically significant; and 
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(2) the non-government entity may not conduct 
such a survey until the Comptroller General provides 
such a certification for the survey. 
(e) SUBMITTAL OF RESULTS AND PUBLIC AVAIL-
ABILITY OF INFORMATION.—Not later than 30 days after 
the completion of the surveys conducted pursuant to a 
contract entered into under subsection (a) for a year, the 
Secretary shall make the results of the surveys publicly 
available on the Internet website of the Department. 
(f) PAPERWORK REDUCTION.—Subchapter I of chap-
ter 35 of title 44, United States Code shall not apply to 
this section. 
(g) DEADLINE
FOR IMPLEMENTATION.—The Sec-
retary shall enter into a contract under subsection (a) for 
each medical facility of the Department by not later than 
180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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