Caring For Our Women Veterans Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3636 To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress certain reports relating to the health care and treatment provided by the Depart- ment of Veterans Affairs to women veterans, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 9, 2019 Ms. UNDERWOOD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress certain reports relating to the health care and treatment provided by the Department of Veterans Af- fairs to women 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Caring For Our 4 Women Veterans Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:33 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3636.IH H3636 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3636 IH SEC. 2. REPORT ON LOCATIONS WHERE WOMEN VETERANS 1 ARE USING HEALTH CARE FROM DEPART- 2 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 4 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 5 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Com- 6 mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Com- 7 mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representa- 8 tives a report on the use by women veterans of health care 9 from the Department of Veterans Affairs. 10 (b) ELEMENTS.—Each report required by subsection 11 (a) shall include the following information: 12 (1) The number of women veterans who reside 13 in each State. 14 (2) The number of women veterans in each 15 State who are enrolled in the system of patient en- 16 rollment of the Department established and operated 17 under section 1705(a) of title 38, United States 18 Code. 19 (3) Of the women veterans who are so enrolled, 20 the number who have received health care under the 21 laws administered by the Secretary at least one time 22 during the one-year period preceding the submittal 23 of the report. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:33 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3636.IH H3636 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3636 IH (4) The number of women veterans who have 1 been seen at each medical facility of the Department 2 during such year. 3 (5) The number of appointments that women 4 veterans have had at each such facility during such 5 year. 6 (6) If known, an identification of the medical 7 facility of the Department in each Veterans Inte- 8 grated Service Network with the largest rate of in- 9 crease in patient population of women veterans as 10 measured by the increase in unique women veteran 11 patient use. 12 (7) If known, an identification of the medical 13 facility of the Department in each Veterans Inte- 14 grated Service Network with the largest rate of de- 15 crease in patient population of women veterans as 16 measured by the decrease in unique women veterans 17 patient use. 18 SEC. 3. REPORT ON MODELS OF MEDICAL FACILITIES OF 19 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS FOR 20 THE TREATMENT OF WOMEN. 21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 22 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 23 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Com- 24 mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:33 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3636.IH H3636 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3636 IH mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representa- 1 tives a report on the use by the Department of Veterans 2 Affairs of general primary care clinics, separate but 3 shared spaces, and women’s health centers as models of 4 providing health care to women veterans. 5 (b) ELEMENTS.—Each report required by subsection 6 (a) shall include the following: 7 (1) The number of facilities of the Department 8 that fall into each model described in subsection (a), 9 disaggregated by Veterans Integrated Service Net- 10 work and State. 11 (2) A description of the criteria used by the De- 12 partment to determine which such model is most ap- 13 propriate for each facility of the Department. 14 (3) An assessment of how the Department de- 15 cides to make investments to upgrade facilities to 16 the next higher-level model. 17 (4) A description of what, if any, plans the De- 18 partment has to upgrade facilities from the lowest- 19 level model, general primary care clinics, to another 20 model. 21 (5) An assessment of whether any facilities 22 could be upgraded to the next higher-level model 23 within planned investments under the strategic cap- 24 ital investment planning process of the Department. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:33 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3636.IH H3636 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3636 IH (6) An assessment of whether any facilities 1 could be upgraded to the next higher-level model 2 with minor modifications to existing plans under the 3 strategic capital investment planning process of the 4 Department. 5 (7) An assessment of whether the Department 6 has a goal for how many facilities should fall into 7 each such model. 8 SEC. 4. REPORT ON STAFFING OF DEPARTMENT OF VET- 9 ERANS RELATING TO THE TREATMENT OF 10 WOMEN. 11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 12 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 13 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Com- 14 mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Com- 15 mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representa- 16 tives a report on the staffing of the Department of Vet- 17 erans Affairs relating to the treatment of women. 18 (b) ELEMENTS.—Each report required by subsection 19 (a) shall include the following, disaggregated by Veterans 20 Integrated Service Network and State (except with respect 21 to paragraph (4)): 22 (1) The number of women’s health centers. 23 (2) The number of patient aligned care teams 24 of the Department relating to women’s health. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:33 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3636.IH H3636 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3636 IH (3) The number of full- and part-time gyne- 1 cologists of the Department. 2 (4) The number of designated women’s health 3 care providers of the Department, disaggregated by 4 facility of the Department. 5 (5) The number of health care providers of the 6 Department who have completed a mini-residency 7 for women’s health care through Women Veterans 8 Health Care Mini-Residency Program of the Depart- 9 ment during the one-year period preceding the sub- 10 mittal of the report, and the number that plan to 11 participate in such a mini-residency during the one- 12 year period following such date. 13 (6) The number of designated women’s health 14 care providers of the Department who have suffi- 15 cient female patients to retain their competencies 16 and proficiencies. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:33 Jul 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3636.IH H3636 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS