Veterans Affairs Medical-Surgical Purchasing Stabilization Act

Bill: 115-s-3737
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA]
Introduced: 2018-12-11
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Congressional oversight

Department of Veterans Affairs

Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management

Health facilities and institutions

Health technology, devices, supplies

Public contracts and procurement

Surgery and anesthesia

Veterans' medical care
Latest action: action_date: 2018-12-11
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Summaries:
action_date: 2018-12-11
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>Veterans Affairs Medical-Surgical Purchasing Stabilization Act</b></p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p>

tv_txt: II 115th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 3737 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.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Veterans Affairs Medical-Surgical Purchasing Stabilization Act . 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.