Title: Enhanced Veteran Healthcare Act of 2017
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Enhanced Veteran Healthcare Act of 2017
This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to seek to enter into covered agreements and contracts for the mutually beneficial coordination, use, or exchange of covered VA health-care resources with eligible academic affiliates in order to improve access to, and quality of, VA hospital care and medical services.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2312 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2312

     To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for covered 
agreements and contracts between the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and 
eligible academic affiliates for the mutually beneficial coordination, 
   use, or exchange of health-care resources, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 3, 2017

Mr. O'Rourke (for himself, Mr. Coffman, Mr. Sarbanes, and Mr. McGovern) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for covered 
agreements and contracts between the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and 
eligible academic affiliates for the mutually beneficial coordination, 
   use, or exchange of health-care resources, 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 ``Enhanced Veteran Healthcare Act of 
2017''.

SEC. 2. COVERED AGREEMENTS AND CONTRACTS FOR MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL 
              COORDINATION, USE, OR EXCHANGE OF HEALTH-CARE RESOURCES.

    Section 8153 of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``, including 
                pursuant to paragraph (4)'' before the period at the 
                end;
                    (B) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraph:
    ``(4) In carrying out paragraph (1), in order to carry out more 
effectively the primary function of the Veterans Health Administration 
and notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the Secretary 
shall seek to enter into covered agreements and contracts for the 
mutually beneficial coordination, use, or exchange of use of covered 
health-care resources of the Department with eligible academic 
affiliates with the goal of improving the access to, and quality of, 
the hospital care and medical services furnished by the Department.''; 
and
                    (C) in paragraph (3)(A), by adding at the end the 
                following new sentence: ``In the case of a covered 
                agreement or contract under paragraph (4) for the 
                coordination, use, or exchange of a clinical service, 
                the use of medical equipment or space, research, the 
                construction or lease of clinical space, the use of any 
                full-time equivalent employee of the Department or a 
                contractor of the Department or the use of any full-
                time equivalent employee jointly hired by the 
                Department and an eligible academic affiliate, the 
                Secretary shall make arrangements for the acquisition 
                of the resource by using procedures other than 
                competitive procedures.''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(h) In this section:
            ``(1) The term `covered agreement or contract' means a 
        partnership or contracts between the Secretary and an eligible 
        academic affiliate for the mutually beneficial coordination, 
        use, or exchange of use of covered health-care resources.
            ``(2) The term `covered health-care resource' means, with 
        respect to covered agreements or contracts, any clinical 
        service, direct patient care, space (whether leased or 
        constructed) used for clinical services or research, and 
        employees responsible for providing direct patient care.
            ``(3) The term `eligible academic affiliate' means an 
        accredited school of allopathic medicine, osteopathic medicine, 
        or dentistry, a university health sciences center, or a 
        teaching hospital affiliated with such a school or center.''.
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