Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Programs Enhancement Act of 2001
Latest action · Jan 23, 2002 Became Public Law No: 107-135.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedDec 11, 2001
- Passed HouseDec 11, 2001
- Passed SenateDec 20, 2001
- To the PresidentJan 11, 2002
- Became lawJan 23, 2002
Summary
(Sec. 102) Repeals a provision terminating on December 31, 2001, the education debt reduction program. Increases the maximum debt reduction amount under such program and allows the annual adjustment of such amount. Allows the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, until June 30, 2002, to expand the number of individuals eligible under such program.
(Sec. 103) Requires a report from the Secretary to the congressional veterans' committees and the National Commission on VA Nursing (established under this Act) on the use of the authority to request waivers of pay reductions for reemployed annuitants in order to meet requirements for appointments to nurse positions.
Subtitle B: Retention Authorities - Authorizes additional pay for Saturday duty for health care professionals in the Department's Veterans Health Administration (VHA).
(Sec. 122) Allows unused sick leave to be included in the annuity computation for VHA registered nurses.
(Sec. 123) Directs the Secretary to: (1) evaluate the efficacy of the Department's nurse managed health care clinics; (2) establish a nationwide policy on the staffing of Department medical facilities; (3) report on the use of authorities for retaining experienced nurses; and (4) report on mandatory overtime required of licensed nurses and nurse assistants providing direct patient care.
Subtitle C: Other Authorities - Requires the Department's Director of Nursing Service to report directly to the Under Secretary for Health.
(Sec. 132) Makes Federal annuity computation provisions inapplicable to the part-time service before April 7, 1986, of a Department registered nurse, physician assistant, or expanded-function dental auxiliary, instead requiring such service to be credited as full-time service.
Subtitle D: National Commission on VA Nursing - Establishes in the Department the National Commission on VA Nursing to: (1) consider and recommend legislative and organizational policy changes to enhance the Department's recruitment and retention of nurses and other nursing personnel; and (2) assess the future of the Department's nursing profession. Requires a report from the Commission to Congress and the Secretary and from the Secretary to Congress concerning such recommendations. Terminates the Commission 90 days after its report.
Title II: Other Matters - Authorizes the Secretary to provide: (1) service dogs to veterans enrolled in the veterans' patient enrollment system who are hearing impaired or have a spinal cord injury or dysfunction; and (2) related travel and incidental expenses.
(Sec. 202) Adds as a basis for determining a veteran's inability to defray expenses of necessary medical care whether the veteran is eligible for treatment as a low-income family under provisions of the United States Housing Act of 1937. Reduces by 80 percent the required copayments for low-income veterans enrolled in the veterans' patient enrollment system.
(Sec. 203) Provides the basis for maintenance of the Department's capacity to provide for the specialized treatment and rehabilitative needs of disabled veterans who: (1) are seriously mentally ill; or (2) have spinal cord dysfunction, traumatic brain injury, blindness, or prosthetics and sensory aids. Requires each geographic service area of the VHA to maintain such capacity. Extends through 2004 requirements for reports on the maintenance of such capacity.
(Sec. 204) Directs the Secretary to: (1) carry out, through Department medical centers and clinics, a program to provide chiropractic care and services to veterans enrolled in the veterans' patient enrollment system; and (2) establish an advisory committee to provide direct assistance and advice in such program's development and implementation.
(Sec. 205) Requires amounts for activities of the field offices of the Department's Office of Research Compliance and Assurance to be derived from amounts appropriated for the VHA for Medical Care, rather than amounts appropriated for the VHA for Medical and Prosthetic Research.
(Sec. 206) Authorizes the Secretary to carry out a major medical facility project for the renovation from electrical fire of the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Miami, Florida. Authorizes appropriations.
(Sec. 207) Expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary should conduct an assessment of all special telephone services for veterans that are provided by the Department.
(Sec. 208) Directs the Secretary to provide consultation, counseling, training, and mental health services to family members in connection with a veteran receiving treatment for a service-connected disability and authorizes the Secretary to provide such services in connection with a veteran receiving treatment for a non-service-connected disability. Authorizes related travel and transportation expenses.
Authorizes the Secretary to provide: (1) bereavement counseling to family members of veterans who die in the line of duty or veterans who were participating in a hospice program; and (2) humanitarian hospital or medical care in emergency cases (for a charge).
Extends through FY 2007 the Secretary's authority to charge certain medical care copayments.
(Sec. 210) Directs the Secretary to: (1) evaluate and study the feasibility and desirability of providing a personal emergency response system to veterans who have service-connected disabilities; (2) report study results to the veterans' committees; and (3) implement such a system if found feasible and desirable.
(Sec. 211) Extends through December 31, 2002, the eligibility for Department hospital and nursing home care and medical services for veterans who served in Southwest Asia during the Persian Gulf War.
Cosponsors 3
Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Dec 11, 2001.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-CA | Bob Filner | Original | Dec 11, 2001 |
| R-KS | Jerry Moran | Original | Dec 11, 2001 |
| D-IL | Lane Evans | Original | Dec 11, 2001 |
Actions 15
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jan 23, 2002Became Public Law No: 107-135.
- Jan 23, 2002Signed by President.
- Jan 11, 2002Presented to President.
- Dec 21, 2001Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- Dec 20, 2001Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S14075-14080)
Related bills 3
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 1188 | Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Programs Enhancement Act of 2001 | Related bill | Oct 10, 2001 |
| HR 2792 | Disabled Veterans Service Dog and Health Care Improvement Act of 2001 | Related bill | Oct 24, 2001 |
| HR 3017 | Department of Veterans Affairs Nurse Recruitment and Retention Enhancement Act of 2001 | Related bill | Oct 31, 2001 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security.
- Access to health care
- Ambulatory care
- Animals
- Annuities
- Armed forces abroad
- Armed Forces and National Security
- Auditing
- Blind
- Brain
- Building construction
- Chiropractic and chiropractors
- Civil Service pensions
- Civil service retirement
- Clinics
- Coinsurance
- Collection of accounts
- Community health services
- Congress
- Congressional reporting requirements
- Construction costs
- Cost of living adjustments
- Counseling
- Deaf
- Death
- Dental care
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Disabled
- Disabled veterans
- Dogs
- Drug abuse
- Drug abuse treatment
- Economics and Public Finance
- Education
- Emergency communication systems
- Emergency Management
- Emergency medical services
- Executive reorganization
- Families
- Family services
- Federal advisory bodies
- Federal aid to medical education
- Federal aid to nursing education
- Federal employees
- Finance and Financial Sector
- Florida
- Government Operations and Politics
- Government paperwork
- Government publicity
- Gulf War syndrome
- Health
- Health counseling
- Higher education
- History
- Hospices (Terminal care)
- Hospital care
- Hours of labor
- Labor and Employment
- Legislation
- Managed care
- Medical economics
- Medical personnel
- Medical research
- Medical statistics
- Mental care facilities
- Mental health services
- Mental illness
- Mentally ill
- Nurses
- Nursing homes
- Overtime
- Paramedical personnel
- Part-time employment
- Patient satisfaction
- Performance measurement
- Persian Gulf War
- Physicians' assistants
- Poor
- Prosthesis
- Psychiatric personnel
- Quality of care
- Recruiting of employees
- Salaries
- Scholarships
- Science, Technology, Communications
- Self-help devices for the disabled
- Sick leave
- Social Welfare
- Spinal cord injuries
- Stress (Psychology)
- Student loan funds
- Surveys
- Survivors' benefits
- Telephone
- Transportation and Public Works
- Travel costs
- Veterans' hospitals
- Veterans' medical care
- Veterans' rehabilitation
- War casualties
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.