US Congress House Bill 5262 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Republican 11-1)
Status: Introduced on May 17 2016 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2016-05-17 - Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Pending: House Veterans' Affairs Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

Care Veterans Deserve Act of 2016 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.

Care Veterans Deserve Act of 2016

Rep. Richard Hudson [R-NC]	Rep. C.A. Ruppersberger [D-MD]	Rep. Diane Black [R-TN]	Rep. Steve Chabot [R-OH]
Rep. Jason Chaffetz [R-UT]	Rep. David Rouzer [R-NC]	Rep. Pete Olson [R-TX]	Rep. Mark Sanford [R-SC]
Rep. Trent Franks [R-AZ]	Sen. Martha McSally [R-AZ]	Rep. David Schweikert [R-AZ]	Rep. Paul Gosar [R-AZ]

Date	Chamber	Action
2016-05-17	House	Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
2016-05-17	House	Introduced in House

HB2516 (Related) 2015-06-05 - Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
SB2170 (Related) 2015-11-18 - Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held.
SB2896 (Related) 2016-05-24 - Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held.

Type	Source
Summary	https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/5262/all-info
Text	https://www.congress.gov/114/bills/hr5262/BILLS-114hr5262ih.pdf