I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3482 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish an online program 
through which an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs may 
schedule an appointment for a covered veteran with a non-Department 
health care provider under the Veterans Community Care Program, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 19, 2025 
Mr. BARRETT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish an 
online program through which an employee of the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs may schedule an appoint-
ment for a covered veteran with a non-Department 
health care provider under the Veterans 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 ‘‘Veterans Community 
Care Scheduling Improvement Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. SCHEDULING OF APPOINTMENTS UNDER THE VET-
ERANS COMMUNITY CARE PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3101 of the Johnny Isak-
son and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and 
Benefits Improvement Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–315; 
38 U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended by striking subsection 
(d) and inserting the following new subsection (d): 
‘‘(d) PROGRAM
ON SCHEDULING APPOINTMENTS 
WITH COMMUNITY CARE PROVIDERS BY EMPLOYEES OF 
THE
DEPARTMENT
THROUGH
INFORMATION
TECH-
NOLOGY SYSTEM.—(1) Not later than one year after the 
date of the enactment of the Veterans Community Care 
Scheduling Improvement Act, the Secretary shall, instead 
of the process under subsection (a), carry out a program 
through which a scheduler of the Department— 
‘‘(A) may schedule, for a veteran, an appoint-
ment— 
‘‘(i) for health care furnished through the 
Veterans Community Care Program; and 
‘‘(ii) offered by a non-Department health 
care provider that participates in the Veterans 
Community Care Program and elects to partici-
pate in the program under this subsection; and 
‘‘(B) using an information technology system. 
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‘‘(2) The Secretary shall carry out the program under 
this subsection through an existing agreement if prac-
ticable. 
‘‘(3) The program under this subsection shall, with 
regards to an appointment available with a Department 
provider or a non-Department provider that participates 
in the Veterans Community Care Program, allow a sched-
uler— 
‘‘(A) to view, search, and sort such appoint-
ments by type of care, location, and date; 
‘‘(B) to schedule such an appointment; 
‘‘(C) to provide referral or authorization docu-
ments directly to a non-Department provider; and 
‘‘(D) to perform any other function the Sec-
retary determines necessary. 
‘‘(4) Not later than 90 days after the date of the en-
actment of the Veterans Community Care Scheduling Im-
provement Act, the Secretary shall prescribe regulations 
under this subsection. Such regulations shall include a di-
rective to employees at medical centers of the Department 
to use the information technology system under this sub-
section to schedule appointments described in paragraph 
(1) instead of the process under subsection (a) whenever 
practicable. 
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‘‘(5) Not later than 90 days after the date of the en-
actment of the Veterans Community Care Scheduling Im-
provement Act, the Secretary shall plan and carry out an 
outreach campaign to encourage non-Department pro-
viders that participate in the Veterans Community Care 
Program to participate in the program under this sub-
section. Such outreach shall include the publication of a 
publicly accessible website of the Department regarding— 
‘‘(A) details of the program; 
‘‘(B) how a provider may elect to participate in 
the program; and 
‘‘(C) a point of contact in the Department re-
garding the program. 
‘‘(6) The Secretary shall submit to the Committees 
on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of Rep-
resentatives the following documents regarding the pro-
gram under this subsection: 
‘‘(A) Not later than 30 days after each deter-
mination described in paragraph (3)(D), a report re-
garding each function described in such subpara-
graph. 
‘‘(B) Not later than 30 days after prescription, 
a copy of the regulations prescribed under para-
graph (4). 
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‘‘(C) Not later than 30 days after the Secretary 
formulates the plan under paragraph (5), a copy of 
such plan. 
‘‘(D) Not later than 18 months after the date 
of the enactment of the Veterans Community Care 
Scheduling Improvement Act and every six months 
thereafter during the following five years, a report 
regarding operation of such program during the six 
months preceding the date of the report. Such a re-
port shall include the following: 
‘‘(i) The number of non-Department health 
care providers who participated in such pro-
gram. 
‘‘(ii) The number of appointments under 
the Veterans Community Care Program, sched-
uled by a scheduler of the Department, 
disaggregated by— 
‘‘(I) whether the appointment was 
scheduled under such program or by the 
process under subsection (a); 
‘‘(II) category of medical services pro-
vided; and 
‘‘(III) month. 
‘‘(7) The program under this subsection shall termi-
nate seven years after the date of the enactment of the 
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Veterans Community Care Scheduling Improvement 
Act.’’. 
(b) CODIFICATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3101 of such Act, as 
amended by subsection (a), is transferred to sub-
chapter I of chapter 17 of title 38, United States 
Code, inserted after section 1703G, and redesig-
nated as section 1703H. 
(2) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENTS.—Section 
1703H of such title, as added by this section, is 
amended— 
(A) by striking any heading that is not a 
section heading or subsection heading and con-
forming the margins accordingly; 
(B) by striking ‘‘of title 38, United States 
Code’’ both places it appears and inserting ‘‘of 
this title’’; 
(C) in subsection (a)(1)— 
(i) in the matter preceding subpara-
graph (A), by striking ‘‘Not later than 60 
days after the date of the enactment of 
this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs’’ and inserting ‘‘The Secretary’’; and 
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(ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 
‘‘Department of Veterans Affairs’’ and in-
serting ‘‘Department’’; 
(D) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ‘‘Not 
later than one year after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary’’ and inserting 
‘‘The Secretary’’; 
(E) in subsection (c)— 
(i) in paragraph (1), in the matter 
preceding subparagraph (A), by striking 
‘‘Not later than 180 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary’’ 
and inserting ‘‘The Secretary’’; and 
(ii) in paragraph (2), by striking sub-
paragraphs (A) and (B) and inserting 
‘‘The Secretary shall require each medical 
facility of the Department to use the meth-
od or tool described in paragraph (1).’’; 
(F) in the section enumerator, by striking 
‘‘SEC.’’ and inserting ‘‘§’’; and 
(G) in the section heading— 
(i) by striking ‘‘PROCESS AND RE-
QUIREMENTS
FOR
SCHEDULING
AP-
POINTMENTS
FOR
HEALTH
CARE 
FROM DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF-
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