I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1356 
To improve the provision of health care for women veterans by the 
Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 13, 2015 
Mr. COFFMAN (for himself and Ms. SPEIER) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To improve the provision of health care for women veterans 
by the Department 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 ‘‘Women Veterans Ac-
cess to Quality Care Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF STRUCTURAL STANDARDS TO 
MEET 
GENDER-SPECIFIC 
HEALTH 
CARE 
NEEDS IN MEDICAL FACILITIES OF DEPART-
MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs shall establish standards to ensure that all 
medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Af-
fairs have the structural characteristics necessary to 
adequately meet the gender-specific health care 
needs of veterans at such facilities, including pri-
vacy, safety, and dignity. 
(2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary shall promulgate regulations to carry out 
paragraph (1). 
(b) INTEGRATION INTO PRIORITIZATION METHOD-
OLOGY.—Not later than 270 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall integrate the 
standards established under subsection (a)(1) into the 
prioritization methodology used by the Department under 
paragraph (5) of section 8104(b) of title 38, United States 
Code, with respect to requests for the funding of major 
medical facility projects and major medical facility leases 
under such section. 
(c) REPORT.—Not later than 450 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 
to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 
the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep-
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resentatives a report on the standards established under 
subsection (a)(1) that includes the following: 
(1) A list of the medical facilities of the Depart-
ment that fail to meet such standards. 
(2) The minimum total cost of the projects or 
leases that would be required to ensure that all med-
ical facilities of the Department meet such stand-
ards. 
(3) The number of such projects or leases that 
qualify as a major medical facility project or major 
medical facility lease under section 8104(a)(3). 
(4) Where each such project or lease is located 
in the current project prioritization of the Depart-
ment. 
SEC. 3. USE OF HEALTH OUTCOMES FOR WOMEN VET-
ERANS IN EVALUATING THE PERFORMANCE 
OF DIRECTORS OF MEDICAL CENTERS OF DE-
PARTMENT AND DISCLOSURE OF HEALTH 
OUTCOMES. 
(a) EVALUATION OF DIRECTORS.—The Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs shall use health outcomes for women vet-
erans furnished hospital care, medical services, and other 
health care by the Department of Veterans Affairs in eval-
uating the performance of directors of medical centers of 
the Department. 
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(b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall publish 
on an Internet website of the Department available 
to the public information on the performance of di-
rectors of medical centers of the Department with 
respect to health outcomes for women veterans. 
(2) DATA ON HEALTH OUTCOMES.—The Sec-
retary shall publish on an Internet website that is 
available to the public of each medical facility of the 
Department the following: 
(A) Data on health outcomes pursuant to 
key health outcome metrics at such facility for 
veterans who are women. 
(B) A comparison of how such data com-
pares to data on health outcomes pursuant to 
key health outcome metrics at such facility for 
veterans who are men. 
(C) Explanatory or clarifying information 
necessary for members of the public to under-
stand the data under subparagraphs (A) and 
(B). 
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SEC. 4. INCREASE IN NUMBER OF OBSTETRICIANS AND 
GYNECOLOGISTS OF DEPARTMENT OF VET-
ERANS AFFAIRS. 
(a) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 540 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs shall ensure that every medical center of 
the Department of Veterans Affairs has a full-time obste-
trician or gynecologist. 
(b) PILOT PROGRAM ON INCREASE OF RESIDENCY 
AND MEDICAL EDUCATION POSITIONS.—Not later than 
two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall carry out a pilot pro-
gram to increase the number of residency program posi-
tions and graduate medical education positions for obste-
tricians and gynecologists at medical facilities of the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs in not less than three Vet-
erans Integrated Service Networks of the Department. 
SEC. 5. PROCEDURES FOR PROVISION OF CERTAIN INFOR-
MATION TO STATE VETERANS AGENCIES TO 
FACILITATE THE FURNISHING OF ASSIST-
ANCE AND BENEFITS TO VETERANS. 
(a) PROCEDURES REQUIRED.—The Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs shall develop procedures to share the infor-
mation described in subsection (b) regarding veterans with 
State veterans agencies in electronic data format as a 
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submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Sen-
ate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House 
of Representatives a report on the examination carried out 
under subsection (a). 
(d) VETERANS SERVICE ORGANIZATION DEFINED.— 
In this section, the term ‘‘veterans service organization’’ 
means an organization recognized by the Secretary for the 
representation of veterans under section 5902 of title 38, 
United States Code. 
Æ 
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