A bill to require directors of medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to submit plans to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on how to improve such facilities, and for other purposes.

Bill: 115-s-2622
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Inhofe, James M. [R-OK]
Introduced: 2018-03-22
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures

Department of Veterans Affairs

Government studies and investigations

Health care quality

Health facilities and institutions

Veterans' medical care
Latest action: action_date: 2018-03-22
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Summaries:
action_date: 2018-03-22
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p>This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to require each director of a VA medical facility to submit a plan to improve such facility in such a fashion as would result in the facility obtaining a VA five-star rating.</p>

tv_txt: II 115th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 2622 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 22, 2018 Mr. Inhofe (for himself, Mrs. Shaheen , and Mr. Lankford ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs A BILL To require directors of medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to submit plans to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on how to improve such facilities, and for other purposes.

1. Plans to improve medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs (a) Plans required (1) Plans of directors of medical facilities The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall require each director of a medical facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs to submit to the director of the facility's Veterans Integrated Service Network, not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, a plan to improve such facility in such a fashion as would result in the facility obtaining a Department five-star rating. (2) Plans of directors of Veterans Integrated Service Networks The Secretary shall require each director of a Veterans Integrated Service Network to submit to the Secretary, not later than 60 days after receiving all of the plans under paragraph (1), a plan, based on the plans received under paragraph (1), to improve the facilities within the Veterans Integrated Service Network in such a fashion that would improve the rating of all facilities within the network. (3) Contents The Secretary shall ensure that each plan submitted under this subsection includes sufficient detail regarding resources, personnel changes, hiring authorities, additional staffing, and changes to information systems as is necessary to obtain the rating described in paragraphs (1) and (2). (b) Annual reports The Secretary shall ensure that, in the first fiscal year beginning after the date that is 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and not less frequently than once each fiscal year thereafter, each director of a Veterans Integrated Service Network in which a medical facility of the Department has a one-, two-, or three-star rating submits to the Secretary a report on the actions taken by the director to carry out the plan submitted by the director under subsection (a)(2) and to obtain for the facility the rating described in such subsection. (c) Sense of Congress on use of authorities To investigate medical centers of the Department of Veterans Affairs It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should make full use of the authorities provided by section 2 of the Enhancing Veteran Care Act ( Public Law 115–95 ).