Ensuring Veterans Access to Care Act of 2014

Bill: 113-s-2422
Sponsor: Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT]
Introduced: 2014-06-03 in the Senate
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Administrative remedies
Advisory bodies
Alaska Natives and Hawaiians
Arizona
California
Caribbean area
Civil actions and liability
Computers and information technology
Congressional oversight
Connecticut
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Veterans Affairs
Federal officials
Florida
Georgia
Government buildings, facilities, and property
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Government studies and investigations
Hawaii
Health care coverage and access
Health facilities and institutions
Health information and medical records
Health personnel
Health programs administration and funding
Health technology, devices, supplies
Home and outpatient care
Hospital care
Illinois
Indian social and development programs
Kansas
Louisiana
Massachusetts
Medical education
Mental health
Military medicine
Minority health
Missouri
Nebraska
New Jersey
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Performance measurement
Public contracts and procurement
Puerto Rico
South Carolina
Student aid and college costs
Tennessee
Texas
U.S. territories and protectorates
Veterans' medical care
Women's health

Summary:
action_date: 2014-06-03
text: 
 Ensuring Veterans Access to Care Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to: (1) implement an upgraded and centralized electronic system for scheduling individuals' appointments for VA health care, and (2) contract for an independent assessment of the process at each VA medical facility for scheduling such appointments.
 
Sets forth measures concerning the training and hiring of VA health personnel that: 
 
 
 protect primary care physicians from liability for failing to perform their period of obligated service under the Health Professionals Educational Assistance Program due to VA staffing changes or an oversupply of primary care physicians;
 
allow individuals, as part of that Program, to enroll in the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences to pursue a medical education with a primary care specialization;
 
require the Secretary to annually identify the five VA health care occupations for which there are the largest staffing shortages, to recruit and appoint health care providers to those positions, and to give scholarship priority under the Health Professionals Educational Assistance Program to applicants pursuing careers in those occupations;
 
direct the Secretary to implement a clinic management training program to provide in-person, standardized education on health care management to all managers of, and health care providers at, VA medical facilities; and
 
include service at VA medical facilities as obligated service under the National Health Service Corps Scholarship and Loan Repayment Programs.
 
 
Establishes measures to improve veterans' access to health care from non-VA providers by:
 
 
requiring the Secretary to make enhanced use of the Secretary's existing authorities to give veterans access to health care at non-VA facilities if they cannot get timely access to care at VA health facilities;
 
extending a joint Department of Defense (DOD)-VA program to identify, implement, and evaluate creative health care coordination and sharing initiatives at facility, intraregional, and nationwide levels;
 
requiring the Secretary to transfer the authority to pay for health care through non-VA facilities from the VA's Veterans Integrated Service Networks and medical centers to the Veterans Health Administration's Chief Business Office;
 
requiring the Secretary to provide outreach to Indian medical facilities regarding their ability to enter into agreements with the VA for reimbursement for providing veterans with health care;
 
requiring the Secretary to enter into agreements to reimburse Native Hawaiian health care systems for the provision of health care to veterans.
 
 
Sets forth VA health care administrative matters, which include:
 
 
requiring the Secretary to improve veterans' access to telemedicine and other health care through the use of VA mobile vet centers by establishing standardized requirements for the operation of such centers,
 
establishing the Commission on Access to Care,
 
establishing the Commission on Capital Planning for Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Facilities, and 
 
authorizing the Secretary to remove any individual from the Senior Executive Service if the Secretary determines that the individual's performance warrants such removal.
 
 
Authorizes the Secretary to carry out certain major medical facility leases at specified locations for up to specified amounts. Sets forth requirements for the budgetary treatment of such leases.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2014-06-04
text: Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 408.
action_date: 2014-06-03
text: Introduced in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time. (text of measure as introduced: CR S3370-3379)
action_date: 2014-06-03
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S3369-3370)
action_date: 2014-06-03
text: Introduced in Senate