HR 2652 · 115th Congress 2017–2019, ended

Veteran Overmedication Prevention Act of 2017

Introduced May 25, 2017 Originated House Sponsor Mike Coffman R-CO

Fact sheet

Latest action · May 25, 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.

  1. IntroducedMay 25, 2017
  2. Passed HouseNot reached
  3. Passed SenateNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Veteran Overmedication Prevention Act of 2017

This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to contract with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to review the deaths of all covered veterans who died by suicide during the last five years, regardless of whether information relating to such deaths has been reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A "covered veteran" is any veteran who received VA hospital care or medical services during the five-year period preceding the veteran's death.

The review shall include:

  • the total numbers of veterans who died by suicide, violent death, or accidental death;
  • the percentage of such veterans with combat experience or related trauma;
  • each veteran's age, gender, race, and ethnicity;
  • a list of medications and substances prescribed to such veterans;
  • a summary of medical diagnoses that led to such prescriptions in cases of anxiety and depressive disorders;
  • the number of instances in which such a veteran was concurrently on multiple prescribed medications;
  • the number of such veterans who were not taking any prescribed medication;
  • the percentage of such veterans treated for anxiety or depressive disorders who received a non-medication first-line treatment compared to the percentage who received medication only;
  • descriptions of how the VA determines and updates clinical practice guidelines for prescribing medications and of VA efforts to maintain appropriate staffing levels for mental health professionals;
  • an analysis of VA's use of systematically measuring pain scores during clinical encounters and how that relates to the number of veterans concurrently on multiple prescribed medications;
  • identification of VA medical facilities with markedly high prescription rates and suicide rates for treated veterans;
  • an analysis of VA programs that collaborate with state Medicaid agencies and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services;
  • an analysis of VA medical center collaboration with medical examiners' offices or local jurisdictions to determine veteran mortality and cause of death;
  • identification of a best practice model to collect and share veteran death certificate data;
  • a description of how data relating to death certificates of veterans is collected, determined, and reported by the VA;
  • an assessment of any apparent patterns based on the review; and
  • recommendations to improve the safety and well-being of veterans.

The VA shall ensure that such data is compiled in a manner that allows it to be analyzed across all data fields for purposes of informing and updating VA clinical practice guidelines.

Cosponsors 34

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from May 25, 2017 to Jun 12, 2018, with 5 there on the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
D-TXBeto O'RourkeOriginalMay 25, 2017
R-MIJack BergmanOriginalMay 25, 2017
D-COJared PolisOriginalMay 25, 2017
R-ILMike BostOriginalMay 25, 2017
D-MASeth MoultonOriginalMay 25, 2017
R-CODoug LambornJun 2, 2017
D-CAJulia BrownleyJun 8, 2017
D-NHAnn M. KusterJun 12, 2017
R-AZTrent FranksJun 12, 2017
D-CAMark TakanoJun 13, 2017
R-MEBruce PoliquinJun 16, 2017
R-OKTom ColeJul 20, 2017
D-ORPeter A. DeFazioSep 18, 2017
R-FLVern BuchananDec 11, 2017
R-FLRon DeSantisDec 12, 2017
R-FLGus M. BilirakisDec 21, 2017
R-NYElise M. StefanikJan 19, 2018
R-VABarbara ComstockJan 22, 2018
D-NHCarol Shea-PorterJan 25, 2018
D-FLFrederica S. WilsonFeb 2, 2018
D-WADenny HeckFeb 20, 2018
R-LAMike JohnsonFeb 23, 2018
D-CAScott H. PetersFeb 27, 2018
D-NYNydia M. VelázquezMar 13, 2018
R-NCWalter B. JonesMar 13, 2018
R-NJChristopher H. SmithMar 21, 2018
D-MAMichael E. CapuanoApr 2, 2018
R-KSRoger MarshallApr 2, 2018
D-CTJames A. HimesApr 16, 2018
D-CAJudy ChuApr 16, 2018
R-PRJenniffer González-ColónApr 23, 2018
R-PAMike KellyMay 9, 2018
D-NYThomas R. SuozziJun 8, 2018
D-NJDonald NorcrossJun 12, 2018

Actions 3

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. May 25, 2017Introduced in House
  2. May 25, 2017Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
  3. May 25, 2017Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

Related bills 3

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

BillTitleRelationshipLatest action
S 788Veteran Overmedication Prevention Act of 2017Related billMar 30, 2017
S 992Veteran Overmedication Prevention Act of 2017Identical billMay 1, 2017
HR 5531Opioid Emergency Response ActRelated billMay 22, 2018

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. May 25, 2017Introduced in House

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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.