VA SNAFU Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1656 To modify the transition period between care and services provided under the Veterans Choice Program and care and services provided under the Veterans Community Care Program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 23 (legislative day, MAY 22), 2019 Mr. MANCHIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To modify the transition period between care and services provided under the Veterans Choice Program and care and services provided under the Veterans Community Care Program, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Affairs Sav- 4 ing Network Appointments From Upheaval Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘VA SNAFU Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 7 Congress finds the following: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1656.IS S1656 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1656 IS (1) The Veterans Health Administration is the 1 largest integrated health care system in the United 2 States, providing care at approximately 1,250 health 3 care facilities, including 172 medical centers and 4 1,069 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity 5 (referred to as outpatient clinics), and serving ap- 6 proximately 9,000,000 veterans each year. 7 (2) On June 6, 2018, the John S. McCain III, 8 Daniel K. Akaka, and Samuel R. Johnson VA Main- 9 taining Internal Systems and Strengthening Inte- 10 grated Outside Networks Act of 2018 or the VA 11 MISSION Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–182) was 12 signed into law, establishing a new permanent Vet- 13 erans Community Care Program to replace the cur- 14 rent Veterans Choice Program under section 101 of 15 the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act 16 of 2014 (Public Law 113–146; 38 U.S.C. 1701 17 note). 18 (3) Section 7330C of title 38, United States 19 Code, as added by section 106 of the VA Mission 20 Act of 2018, requires the Department of Veterans 21 Affairs to conduct market assessments of community 22 care. 23 (4) Those assessments assess, among other fac- 24 tors, the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1656.IS S1656 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1656 IS (A) The demand for health care from the 1 Department. 2 (B) The capacity of the Department to 3 provide health care. 4 (C) The capacity of providers under the 5 Veterans Community Care Program. 6 (D) The capacity of academic affiliates and 7 other Federal partners that provide health care 8 to veterans. 9 (5) Proposed access standards for the Veterans 10 Community Care Program, including a never-before- 11 tested drive-time standard, were released by the De- 12 partment in January 2019 and could impact half of 13 all veterans enrolled in the patient enrollment sys- 14 tem of the Department. 15 (6) The market assessments described in para- 16 graph (3) have not been completed by the Depart- 17 ment, so veterans using the new Veterans Commu- 18 nity Care Program will not have a full picture of 19 whether care in the community is as good or better 20 than care at facilities of the Department. 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1656.IS S1656 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1656 IS SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF TRANSITION FROM VETERANS 1 CHOICE PROGRAM TO VETERANS COMMU- 2 NITY CARE PROGRAM. 3 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE OF VETERANS COMMUNITY 4 CARE PROGRAM.—Subsection (b) of section 101 of the 5 Caring for Our Veterans Act of 2018 (title I of Public 6 Law 115–182) is amended to read as follows: 7 ‘‘(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 1703 of title 38, 8 United States Code, as amended by subsection (a), shall 9 take effect on the date on which the first market area as- 10 sessment under section 7330C of title 38, United States 11 Code, as added by section 106(a) of this Act, is com- 12 pleted.’’. 13 (b) CONTINUATION OF VETERANS CHOICE PRO- 14 GRAM.—Subsection (p) of section 101 of the Veterans Ac- 15 cess, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 (Public Law 16 113–146; 38 U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended to read as 17 follows: 18 ‘‘(p) AUTHORITY TO FURNISH CARE AND SERV- 19 ICES.— 20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 21 graph (2), the Secretary may not use the authority 22 under this section to furnish care and services after 23 June 6, 2019. 24 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—The Secretary may use the 25 authority under this section to furnish care and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1656.IS S1656 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1656 IS services after the date specified in paragraph (1) to 1 the extent necessary to provide care and services to 2 eligible veterans until the Secretary has entered into 3 contracts to provide care and services to such eligi- 4 ble veterans under section 1703 of title 38, United 5 States Code, as in effect on the date specified in sec- 6 tion 101(b) of the Caring for Our Veterans Act of 7 2018 (title I of Public Law 115–182).’’. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1656.IS S1656 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS