Veterans' Emergency Care Claims Parity Act

117TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 1875 AN ACT To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide a deadline of 180 days for the filing of claims for payment for emergency treatment furnished to veterans, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2 † S 1875 ES SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans’ Emergency 2 Care Claims Parity Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. CLAIMS FOR PAYMENT FROM DEPARTMENT OF 4 VETERANS AFFAIRS FOR EMERGENCY TREAT- 5 MENT FURNISHED TO VETERANS. 6 (a) TREATMENT FOR NON-SERVICE-CONNECTED 7 DISABILITIES.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1725 of title 38, 9 United States Code, is amended— 10 (A) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub- 11 section (h); and 12 (B) by inserting after subsection (e) the 13 following new subsections (f) and (g): 14 ‘‘(f) SUBMITTAL OF CLAIMS FOR DIRECT PAY- 15 MENT.—An individual or entity seeking payment under 16 subsection (a)(2) for treatment provided to a veteran in 17 lieu of reimbursement to the veteran shall submit a claim 18 for such payment not later than 180 days after the latest 19 date on which such treatment was provided. 20 ‘‘(g) HOLD HARMLESS.—No veteran described in 21 subsection (b) may be held liable for payment for emer- 22 gency treatment described in such subsection if— 23 ‘‘(1) a claim for direct payment was submitted 24 by an individual or entity under subsection (f); and 25 3 † S 1875 ES ‘‘(2) such claim was submitted after the dead- 1 line established by such subsection due to— 2 ‘‘(A) an administrative error made by the 3 individual or entity, such as submission of the 4 claim to the wrong Federal agency, under the 5 wrong reimbursement authority (such as section 6 1728 of this title), or submission of the claim 7 after the deadline; or 8 ‘‘(B) an administrative error made by the 9 Department, such as misplacement of a paper 10 claim or deletion of an electronic claim.’’. 11 (b) TREATMENT FOR AND IN CONNECTION WITH 12 SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITIES.—Section 1728 of 13 such title is amended— 14 (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub- 15 section (d); and 16 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol- 17 lowing new subsection (c): 18 ‘‘(c) No veteran described in subsection (a) may be 19 held liable for payment for emergency treatment described 20 in such subsection if— 21 ‘‘(1) a claim for direct payment was submitted 22 by an individual or entity under subsection (b)(2); 23 and 24 4 † S 1875 ES ‘‘(2) such claim was submitted after a deadline 1 established by the Secretary for purposes of this sec- 2 tion due to— 3 ‘‘(A) an administrative error made by the 4 individual or entity, such as submission of the 5 claim to the wrong Federal agency or submis- 6 sion of the claim after the deadline; or 7 ‘‘(B) an administrative error made by the 8 Department, such as misplacement of a paper 9 claim or deletion of an electronic claim.’’. 10 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Such title is 11 amended— 12 (1) in section 1705A(d), by striking ‘‘section 13 1725(f)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 1725(h)’’; 14 (2) in section 1725(b)(3)(B), by striking ‘‘sub- 15 section (f)(2)(B) or (f)(2)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 16 section (h)(2)(B) or (h)(2)(C)’’; 17 (3) in section 1728(d), as redesignated by sub- 18 section (b)(4), by striking ‘‘section 1725(f)(1)’’ and 19 inserting ‘‘section 1725(h)(1)’’; 20 (4) in section 1781(a)(4), by striking ‘‘section 21 1725(f)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 1725(h)’’; and 22 (5) in section 1787(b)(3), by striking ‘‘section 23 1725(f)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 1725(h)’’. 24 5 † S 1875 ES SEC. 3. PUBLICATION OF CLARIFYING INFORMATION FOR 1 NON-DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 2 PROVIDERS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 4 shall publish on one or more publicly available internet 5 websites of the Department of Veterans Affairs, including 6 the main internet website regarding emergency care au- 7 thorization for non-Department providers, the following 8 information: 9 (1) A summary table or similar resource that 10 provides a list of all authorities of the Department 11 to authorize emergency care from non-Department 12 providers and, for each such authority, the cor- 13 responding deadline for submission of claims. 14 (2) An illustrated summary of steps, such as a 15 process map, with a checklist for the submission of 16 clean claims that non-Department providers can fol- 17 low to assure compliance with the claims-filing proc- 18 ess of the Department. 19 (3) Contact information for the appropriate of- 20 fice or service line of the Department to address 21 process questions from non-Department providers. 22 (b) PERIODIC REVIEW.—Not less frequently than 23 once every 180 days, the Secretary shall review the infor- 24 mation published under subsection (a) to ensure that such 25 information is current. 26 6 † S 1875 ES (c) CLEAN CLAIMS DEFINED.—In this section, the 1 term ‘‘clean claims’’ means clean electronic claims and 2 clean paper claims (as those terms are defined in section 3 1703D(i) of title 38, United States Code). 4 Passed the Senate April 7, 2022. Attest: Secretary. 117TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 1875 AN ACT To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide a deadline of 180 days for the filing of claims for payment for emergency treatment furnished to veterans, and for other purposes.