Department of Veterans Affairs Provider Accountability Act

IC 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 221 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 23, 2019 Referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs AN ACT To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Under Secretary of Health to report major adverse personnel actions involving certain health care employees to the National Practitioner Data Bank and to applicable State licensing boards, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Dec 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\S221.RFH S221 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 S 221 RFH Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Vet- 4 erans Affairs Provider Accountability Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. ACCOUNTABILITY WITHIN VETERANS HEALTH AD- 6 MINISTRATION. 7 (a) REPORTING MAJOR ADVERSE ACTIONS TO NA- 8 TIONAL PRACTITIONER DATA BANK AND STATE LICENS- 9 ING BOARDS.—Section 7461 of title 38, United States 10 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 11 subsection: 12 ‘‘(f)(1) Whenever the Under Secretary for Health (or 13 an official designated by the Under Secretary) brings 14 charges based on conduct or performance against a section 15 7401(1) employee and as a result of those charges a cov- 16 ered major adverse action is taken against the employee, 17 the Under Secretary shall, not later than 30 days after 18 the date on which such covered major adverse action is 19 carried out— 20 ‘‘(A) transmit to the National Practitioner Data 21 Bank of the Department of Health and Human 22 Services and the applicable State licensing board the 23 name of the employee, a description of the covered 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Dec 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S221.RFH S221 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 S 221 RFH major adverse action, and a description of the rea- 1 son for the covered major adverse action; and 2 ‘‘(B) update the VetPro System, or successor 3 system, with a record of the covered major adverse 4 action taken and an indication that information was 5 transmitted under subparagraph (A). 6 ‘‘(2) The Under Secretary for Health— 7 ‘‘(A) shall enroll all 7401(1) employees in a 8 continuous query of their record within the National 9 Practitioner Data Bank; and 10 ‘‘(B) shall develop and implement a mechanism 11 for maintaining and updating the information col- 12 lected through such continuous query within the 13 VetPro System, or successor system, to facilitate the 14 sharing of such information between Veterans Inte- 15 grated Service Networks. 16 ‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘covered major ad- 17 verse action’ means a major adverse action with respect 18 to a section 7401(1) employee that originated from cir- 19 cumstances in which the behavior of the employee so sub- 20 stantially failed to meet generally-accepted standards of 21 clinical practice as to raise reasonable concern for safety 22 of patients.’’. 23 (b) PROHIBITION ON SIGNING SETTLEMENTS WITH 24 CERTAIN CLAUSES.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Dec 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S221.RFH S221 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 S 221 RFH (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 1 graph (2), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not 2 enter into a settlement agreement relating to an ad- 3 verse action against a section 7401(1) employee 4 under which the Department of Veterans Affairs 5 would be required to conceal a serious medical error 6 or a lapse in generally-accepted standards of clinical 7 practice. 8 (2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 9 apply to a negative record if the head of the Office 10 of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection of 11 the Department and the Special Counsel (established 12 by section 1211 of title 5, United States Code) joint- 13 ly certify that the negative record is not legitimate. 14 (c) TRAINING ON CREDENTIALING AND PRIVI- 15 LEGING.—The Under Secretary for Health of the Depart- 16 ment of Veterans Affairs shall provide to all staff of the 17 Veterans Health Administration who handle hiring, privi- 18 leging, and credentialing mandatory training on— 19 (1) all policies of the Veterans Health Adminis- 20 tration for credentialing and privileging; and 21 (2) when and how to report adverse actions to 22 the National Practitioner Data Bank of the Depart- 23 ment of Health and Human Services, State licensing 24 boards, and other relevant entities. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Dec 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S221.RFH S221 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 S 221 RFH (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS ON UPDATES TO THE VHA 1 HANDBOOK.—It is the sense of Congress that— 2 (1) Congress recognizes that the confusion re- 3 garding practices in the Veterans Health Adminis- 4 tration for reporting to State licensing boards stems 5 from a lack of guidance in the Veterans Health Ad- 6 ministration handbook 1100.18; 7 (2) Congress strongly recommends that the 8 Secretary of Veterans Affairs update such handbook 9 to ensure that employees of the Veterans Health Ad- 10 ministration, officials of the Veterans Integrated 11 Services Networks, and officials of the Department 12 of Veterans Affairs understand and are able to uti- 13 lize the role of State licensing boards to effectively 14 prevent instances of failed reporting and future pa- 15 tient safety concerns; 16 (3) Congress recognizes the broad authority of 17 the Veterans Health Administration to report to 18 State licensing boards those employed or separated 19 health care professionals whose behavior and clinical 20 practice so substantially failed to meet generally-ac- 21 cepted standards of clinical practice as to raise rea- 22 sonable concern for safety of patients and requests 23 that such handbook is updated to reflect appropriate 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Dec 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S221.RFH S221 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 S 221 RFH reporting channels to ensure employee under- 1 standing of those procedures and authorities; and 2 (4) in developing the new handbook, the Sec- 3 retary of Veterans Affairs should consult with— 4 (A) State licensing boards; 5 (B) the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 6 Services; 7 (C) the National Practitioner Data Bank 8 of the Department of Health and Human Serv- 9 ices; and 10 (D) the exclusive representative of section 11 7401(1) employees. 12 (e) SECTION 7401(1) EMPLOYEE DEFINED.—In this 13 section, the term ‘‘section 7401(1) employee’’ has the 14 meaning given that term in section 7461(c)(1) of title 38, 15 United States Code. 16 Passed the Senate December 19, 2019. Attest: JULIE E. ADAMS, Secretary. VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 Dec 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S221.RFH S221 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS