Title: Women Veterans Access to Quality Care Act of 2017
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Women Veterans Access to Quality Care Act of 2017
This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to: (1) establish standards to ensure that all VA medical facilities have the structural characteristics necessary to adequately meet the gender-specific health care needs of veterans at such facilities, including privacy, safety, and dignity; (2) integrate such standards into its prioritization methodology with respect to requests for funding major medical facility projects and major medical facility leases; and (3) report on such standards, including regarding the facilities that fail to meet such standards and the costs of projects and leases required to meet them.
The VA shall: (1) establish policies for environment of care inspections at VA medical centers, which shall include an alignment of inspection requirements with the women's health handbook of the Veterans Health Administration; and (2) certify that such policies have been finalized and disseminated to such centers.
The VA shall: (1) use health outcomes for women veterans furnished health care by the the VA in evaluating the performance of VA medical center directors, (2) publish on its website information on such performance and on health outcomes for women veterans for each VA medical facility, (3) ensure that every VA medical center has a full-time obstetrician-gynecologist, and (4) carry out a pilot program to increase the number of residency program positions and graduate medical education positions for obstetrician-gynecologists at VA medical facilities in at least three Veterans Integrated Service Networks.
The VA must develop procedures to share information that includes military service and separation data, personal email addresses and telephone numbers, and mailing addresses of veterans with state veterans agencies in electronic format as a means of facilitating the furnishing of assistance and benefits to such veterans. A veteran may elect to prevent his or her information from being shared.
The bill requires the VA to carry out an examination of whether VA medical centers are able to meet the health care needs of women veterans.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 804 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 804

   To improve the provision of health care for women veterans by the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 3, 2017

Mr. Heller (for himself and Mrs. Murray) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Women Veterans Access to Quality 
Care Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF STRUCTURAL STANDARDS TO MEET GENDER-SPECIFIC 
              HEALTH CARE NEEDS IN MEDICAL FACILITIES OF DEPARTMENT OF 
              VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) Establishment.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
        establish standards to ensure that all medical facilities of 
        the Department of Veterans Affairs have the structural 
        characteristics necessary to adequately meet the gender-
        specific health care needs of veterans at such facilities, 
        including privacy, safety, and dignity.
            (2) Regulations.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall prescribe 
        regulations to carry out paragraph (1).
    (b) Integration Into Prioritization Methodology.--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 15 months 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 Representatives a report on the standards established 
under subsection (a)(1) that includes the following:
            (1) A list of the medical facilities of the Department that 
        fail to meet such standards.
            (2) The minimum total cost of the projects or leases that 
        would be required to ensure that all medical facilities of the 
        Department meet such standards.
            (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 Department.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF POLICIES FOR ENVIRONMENT OF CARE INSPECTIONS 
              AT MEDICAL CENTERS OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall--
            (1) establish policies for environment of care inspections 
        at medical centers of the Department of Veterans Affairs that 
        include--
                    (A) an alignment of the requirements for such 
                inspections with the women's health handbook of the 
                Veterans Health Administration;
                    (B) a requirement for the frequency of such 
                inspections; and
                    (C) a delineation of the roles and responsibilities 
                of staff at the medical center who are responsible for 
                compliance; and
            (2) certify to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the 
        Senate and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of 
        Representatives that the policies established under paragraph 
        (1) have been finalized and disseminated to medical centers of 
        the Department.

SEC. 4. USE OF HEALTH OUTCOMES FOR WOMEN VETERANS IN EVALUATING THE 
              PERFORMANCE OF DIRECTORS OF MEDICAL CENTERS OF DEPARTMENT 
              AND DISCLOSURE OF HEALTH OUTCOMES.

    (a) Evaluation of Directors.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
shall use health outcomes for women veterans furnished hospital care, 
medical services, and other health care by the Department of Veterans 
Affairs in evaluating the performance of directors of medical centers 
of the Department.
    (b) Public Availability.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall publish on a publicly 
        available Internet website of the Department information on the 
        performance of directors of medical centers of the Department 
        with respect to health outcomes for women veterans.
            (2) Data on health outcomes.--The Secretary shall publish 
        on a publicly available Internet website 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 compares 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 understand the data under 
                subparagraphs (A) and (B).

SEC. 5. INCREASE IN NUMBER OF OBSTETRICIAN-GYNECOLOGISTS OF DEPARTMENT 
              OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) Requirement.--Not later than 18 months 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 obstetrician-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 
program to increase the number of residency program positions and 
graduate medical education positions for obstetrician-gynecologists at 
medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs in not fewer 
than three Veterans Integrated Service Networks of the Department.

SEC. 6. PROCEDURES FOR PROVISION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION TO STATE 
              VETERANS AGENCIES TO FACILITATE THE FURNISHING OF 
              ASSISTANCE AND BENEFITS TO VETERANS.

    (a) Procedures Required.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
develop procedures to share the information described in subsection (b) 
regarding veterans with State veterans agencies in electronic data 
format as a means of facilitating the furnishing of assistance and 
benefits to veterans.
    (b) Covered Information.--The information shared with State 
veterans agencies under subsection (a) regarding a veteran shall 
include the following:
            (1) Military service and separation data.
            (2) A personal email address.
            (3) A personal telephone number.
            (4) A mailing address.
    (c) Opt-Out Election.--A veteran may elect to prevent their 
information from being shared with State veterans agencies under 
subsection (a) pursuant to a process that the Secretary shall establish 
for purposes of this subsection.
    (d) Use of Information.--The Secretary shall ensure that the 
information shared with State veterans agencies in accordance with the 
procedures developed under subsection (a) is only shared by such 
agencies with county government veterans service offices for such 
purposes as the Secretary shall specify for the administration and 
delivery of assistance and benefits.

SEC. 7. EXAMINATION OF ABILITY OF MEDICAL CENTERS OF DEPARTMENT OF 
              VETERANS AFFAIRS TO MEET HEALTH CARE NEEDS OF WOMEN 
              VETERANS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall carry out 
an examination of whether the medical centers of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs are able to meet the health care needs of women 
veterans.
    (b) Elements.--The examination under subsection (a) shall address, 
with respect to each medical center of the Department, at a minimum, 
the following:
            (1) The wait times for women veterans for appointments for 
        the receipt of hospital care, medical services, or other health 
        care.
            (2) Whether the medical center has a clinic that 
        specializes in the treatment of women.
            (3) The number of full-time obstetrician-gynecologists.
            (4) The number of health professionals trained in women's 
        health.
            (5) The extent to which the medical center conducts 
        regular--
                    (A) training on issues specific to women's health; 
                and
                    (B) sensitivity training.
            (6) The differences in health outcomes between men and 
        women.
            (7) The security and privacy measures used in registration, 
        clinical, and diagnostic areas.
            (8) The availability of gender-specific equipment or 
        procedures.
            (9) The extent to which the Center for Women Veterans of 
        the Department advises and engages with the medical center with 
        respect to providing health care to women veterans.
            (10) The extent to which the medical center implements 
        directives from the Center for Women Veterans.
            (11) The outreach conducted by the Department to women 
        veterans in the community served by the medical center.
            (12) The collaboration between the medical center and non-
        Department entities, including veterans service organizations, 
        to meet the health care needs of women veterans.
            (13) The effectiveness of Patient Aligned Care Teams in 
        meeting the health care needs of women veterans.
    (c) Report.--Not later than 270 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit 
to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate 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.
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