Title: Veterans Affairs Medical-Surgical Purchasing Stabilization Act
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Veterans Affairs Medical-Surgical Purchasing Stabilization Act
This bill makes changes to the process by which the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) procures certain medical, surgical, dental or laboratory supplies for its medical centers. Specifically, the bill requires the VA to (1) award contracts to multiple regional prime vendors instead of a single nationwide prime vendor, and (2) prohibit a prime vendor from solely designing the formulary (list of medicines covered) for such supplies.
The VA shall ensure that VA employees who conduct formulary analyses or makes decisions about including items on the formulary have relevant medical expertise. Additionally, the VA shall provide Congress with periodic lists of such individuals and their medical expertise listed by categories of formulary items.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3737 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3737

 To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out the Medical 
  Surgical Prime Vendor program using multiple prime vendors, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 11, 2018

  Mr. Cassidy introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out the Medical 
  Surgical Prime Vendor program using multiple prime vendors, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans Affairs Medical-Surgical 
Purchasing Stabilization Act''.

SEC. 2. PROCUREMENT OF SUPPLIES UNDER MEDICAL SURGICAL PRIME VENDOR 
              PROGRAM.

    (a) Vendors.--In procuring certain medical, surgical, and dental 
supplies or laboratory supplies for medical centers of the Department 
of Veterans Affairs, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall carry out 
the Medical Surgical Prime Vendor program, or a successor program, in a 
manner that--
            (1) requires the Secretary to award contracts to multiple 
        regional prime vendors instead of a single nationwide prime 
        vendor; and
            (2) prohibits a prime vendor from solely designing the 
        formulary of such supplies.
    (b) Clinically Driven Sourcing.--
            (1) Expertise.--In carrying out the formulary of supplies 
        under the Medical Surgical Prime Vendor program, or a successor 
        program, the Secretary shall ensure that each employee of the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs who conducts formulary analyses 
        or makes decisions with respect to including items on the 
        formulary has medical expertise relevant to the items for which 
        the employee conducts such analyses or makes such decisions.
            (2) Lists.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, and quarterly thereafter with respect to 
        any updates, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 
        Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans' 
        Affairs of the House of Representatives a list of each employee 
        described in paragraph (1) and the relevant medical expertise 
        of the employee, listed by the categories of items in the 
        formulary described in such paragraph.
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