Care Veterans Deserve Act of 2017
Latest action · Mar 3, 2017 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
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.
- IntroducedFeb 16, 2017
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Care Veterans Deserve Act of 2017
This bill amends the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to make the Veterans Choice Program permanent.
Program eligibility is expanded to include veterans with a 50% service-connected disability.
The VA shall contract with a national chain of walk-in clinics to provide hospital care and medical services in such clinics to veterans who are in the annual patient enrollment system.
A veteran shall not be required to: (1) obtain pre-authorization for such care, or (2) pay a copayment to the clinic or to the VA.
Such national chain shall establish an automated system to provide the VA with weekly information on veterans receiving hospital care or medical services.
A covered health care professional may practice his or her health care profession at any location in any state, regardless of where such health care professional or the patient is located, if the health care professional is using telemedicine to treat an individual.
Such treatment is permitted regardless of whether the professional or patient is located in a federally-owned facility.
"Covered health care professional" means a health care professional who is: (1) authorized by the VA to provide health care, including a private health care professional who provides such care under a VA contract or agreement; and (2) licensed, registered, or certified in a state to practice his or her health care profession.
The VA shall:
- extend the operating hours for each VA pharmacy to include weekday evenings until until 8:00 p.m., weekends, and federal holidays; and
- contract with qualifying physicians and nurses to work at VA medical facilities during nights and weekends.
The VA may: (1) hire support staff in connection with such extended operating hours, and (2) provide for a a nongovernmental hospital organization best-practices peer review of each VA medical center.
Cosponsors 3
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Feb 16, 2017 to Jan 16, 2018, with 1 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-MD | C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger | Original | Feb 16, 2017 |
| R-SC | Mark Sanford | Jul 17, 2017 | |
| R-NC | Mark Meadows | Jan 16, 2018 |
Actions 3
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Mar 3, 2017Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
- Feb 16, 2017Introduced in House
- Feb 16, 2017Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Related bills 2
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 925 | VETS Act of 2017 | Related bill | Jan 5, 2018 |
| HR 2123 | VETS Act of 2017 | Related bill | Nov 8, 2017 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security.
- Armed Forces and National Security
- Computers and information technology
- Congressional oversight
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Disability and paralysis
- Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
- Health care coverage and access
- Health care quality
- Health facilities and institutions
- Health information and medical records
- Health personnel
- Health technology, devices, supplies
- Hospital care
- Licensing and registrations
- Veterans' medical care
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Feb 16, 2017Introduced in House
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.