I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4159 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish licensure requirements 
for employees and contractor personnel of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs performing orthotics services, pedorthics services, or prosthetics 
services in any State in which there is a State licensure requirement 
for persons performing those services in private practice. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 27, 2005 
Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida (for herself, Mr. NEAL of Massachu-
setts, and Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish licensure 
requirements for employees and contractor personnel of 
the Department of Veterans Affairs performing orthotics 
services, pedorthics services, or prosthetics services in 
any State in which there is a State licensure requirement 
for persons performing those services in private practice. 
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 ‘‘Department of Vet-
erans Affairs Prosthetics Employees Standards Act of 
2005’’. 
SEC. 2. EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS FOR PROSTHETICS EM-
PLOYEES AND CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL OF 
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 
(a) PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS.—(1) Chapter 74 of 
title 38, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 
section 7411 the following new section: 
‘‘§ 7412. Orthotics, pedorthics, and prosthetics em-
ployees and contractor personnel 
‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT FOR OBSERVANCE OF STATE LI-
CENSURE REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary shall require 
that an individual may perform orthotics services, 
pedorthics services, or prosthetics services for patients of 
the Department as an employee of the Department, or as 
an employee of a contractor of the Department, at a work 
site in a State in which there is a State licensure require-
ment applicable to the performance of those services in 
private practice only if the individual is licensed to per-
form those services in accordance with the licensure re-
quirements of that State. The purpose of the requirement 
in the preceding sentence is to ensure that veterans receive 
the same quality of service and treatment in orthotics and
prosthetics services as the public consumer of those serv-
ices is assured by the State licensure process. 
‘‘(b) PRACTITIONERS PROVIDING SERVICES IN MORE 
THAN ONE STATE.—This section does not require a prac-
titioner who has a license from a State to obtain an addi-
tional State license when the practitioner is providing serv-
ices covered by the license within a single benefits delivery 
region of the Department and the practitioner the State 
from which the practitioner holds a license has substan-
tially similar licensure requirements as other States within 
that region. 
‘‘(c) ANNUAL REPORT
TO CONGRESS.—The Sec-
retary shall submit to Congress an annual report regard-
ing the implementation of this section. 
‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘orthotics’ means the science 
that deals with the use of specialized mechanical de-
vices to support or supplement weakened or abnor-
mal joints or limbs. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘pedorthics’ means the science 
concerned with the design, manufacture, fit, and 
modification of foot appliances as prescribed for re-
lief of painful or disabling conditions of the foot.
‘‘(3) The term ‘prosthetics’ means the branch 
of medicine or surgery that deals with the produc-
tion and application of artificial body parts. 
‘‘(e) TRANSITION.—During the one-year period be-
ginning on the date of the enactment of this section, the 
Secretary may waive the provisions of subsection (a) for 
any individual who as of that date would otherwise be cov-
ered by that subsection.’’. 
(2) The table of sections at the beginning of such 
chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating 
to section 7411 the following new item: 
‘‘7412. Orthotics, pedorthics, and prosthetics employees and contractor per-
sonnel.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs shall prescribe regulations for the purposes of sec-
tion 7412 of title 38, United States Code, as added by 
subsection (a), not later than 90 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act. 
(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary shall fully im-
plement regulations referred to in subsection (b) not later 
than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
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