RURAL Veterans Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5032 To amend chapter 73 of title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a rural recruitment office within the Department of Veterans Affairs to recruit health care professionals, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 12, 2019 Mr. HUFFMAN (for himself, Mr. CASE, and Mr. GROTHMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend chapter 73 of title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a rural recruitment office within the Department of Vet- erans Affairs to recruit health care professionals, 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 ‘‘Recruiting in Under- 4 served Rural Areas and Localities for Veterans Act’’ or 5 the ‘‘RURAL Veterans Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5032.IH H5032 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5032 IH SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE OFFICE OF RURAL RE- 1 CRUITMENT. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 73 of title 38, United 3 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 7308 4 the following new section: 5 ‘‘§ 7308A. Office of Rural Recruitment 6 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab- 7 lish an office within the Office of the Under Secretary for 8 Health to be known as the ‘Office of Rural Recruitment’ 9 (in this section referred to as the ‘Office’). The purpose 10 of the Office is to improve the recruitment of health care 11 professionals for rural and highly rural community-based 12 outpatient clinics and medical centers of the Department 13 of Veterans Affairs. 14 ‘‘(b) DIRECTOR.—The Under Secretary of Health 15 shall appoint the head of the Office who shall be called 16 the Director of the Office of Rural Recruitment (in this 17 section referred to as the ‘Director’). 18 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—(1) Annually, the Director, in collabo- 19 ration with the directors of each community-based out- 20 patient clinic and medical center of the Department of 21 Veterans Affairs, shall, to determine the hiring needs of 22 such clinics and centers, do the following: 23 ‘‘(A) Assess the efficacy of hiring incentives to 24 recruit health care professionals to practice in rural 25 and highly rural community-based outpatient clinics 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5032.IH H5032 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5032 IH and medical centers of the Department of Veterans 1 Affairs. 2 ‘‘(B) Assess resources and funding necessary 3 for rural and highly rural community-based out- 4 patient clinics and medical centers of the Depart- 5 ment of Veterans Affairs, which may include data 6 from the most current determination published in 7 the Federal Register pursuant to section 7412(a) of 8 this title. 9 ‘‘(C) Identify hiring incentive programs offered 10 for retaining health care professionals (including the 11 Education Debt Reduction Program, the Employee 12 Incentive Scholarship Program, and other programs 13 under chapter 76 of this title) that provide scholar- 14 ships, tuition reimbursement, and education debt re- 15 duction for health care professionals. 16 ‘‘(D) Determine the number of health care pro- 17 fessionals who accepted positions in rural and highly 18 rural community-based outpatient clinics and med- 19 ical centers of the Department of Veterans Affairs 20 during the previous fiscal year. 21 ‘‘(E) Determine the number of health care pro- 22 fessionals that left positions described in subpara- 23 graph (D) during the previous fiscal year. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5032.IH H5032 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5032 IH ‘‘(2) The Director, in collaboration with the directors 1 of each community-based outpatient clinic and medical 2 center of the Department of Veterans Affairs, shall de- 3 velop and implement a national plan using information 4 gathered under paragraph (1) and the strategies under 5 subsection (d) to— 6 ‘‘(A) recruit health care professionals for rural 7 and highly rural community-based outpatient clinics 8 and medical centers of the Department of Veterans 9 Affairs; 10 ‘‘(B) determine which such clinics or centers 11 are high-need; 12 ‘‘(C) develop best practices and techniques for 13 recruiting health care professionals in rural and 14 highly rural community-based outpatient clinics and 15 medical centers of the Department of Veterans Af- 16 fairs; 17 ‘‘(D) not less than twice each fiscal year, train 18 rural recruitment employees in the best practices 19 and techniques developed under subparagraph (C); 20 and 21 ‘‘(E) provide recruitment resources to the Vet- 22 erans Integrated Service Networks, rural and highly 23 rural community-based outpatient clinics, and rural 24 and highly rural medical centers of the Department 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5032.IH H5032 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 5032 IH of Veterans Affairs, such as pamphlets and mar- 1 keting material. 2 ‘‘(3) The Director shall coordinate an annual meeting 3 for rural and highly rural community-based outpatient 4 clinics and medical centers of the Department of Veterans 5 Affairs to communicate rural recruitment needs among 6 such clinics and centers. 7 ‘‘(d) VETERANS INTEGRATED SERVICE NET- 8 WORKS.—The director of each Veterans Integrated Serv- 9 ice Network that includes at least one rural or highly rural 10 community-based outpatient clinic shall annually develop 11 and maintain a strategy to recruit health care profes- 12 sionals. Such strategy shall include the designation of at 13 least one rural recruitment employee from the human re- 14 sources department of such Veterans Integrated Service 15 Network, or if no such department exists, any department 16 within such Veterans Integrated Service Network. 17 ‘‘(e) REPORTS.—(1) The director of each rural and 18 highly rural community-based outpatient clinic and med- 19 ical center of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall 20 submit to the director of the respective Veterans Inte- 21 grated Service Network of such clinic an annual report 22 on hiring needs with respect to recruiting health care pro- 23 fessionals within such clinic. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5032.IH H5032 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 5032 IH ‘‘(2) The director of each Veterans Integrated Service 1 Network described in subsection (d) shall submit to the 2 Director an annual report containing— 3 ‘‘(A) the strategy under such subsection; and 4 ‘‘(B) a summary of hiring needs with respect to 5 recruiting health care professionals in rural and 6 highly rural community-based outpatient clinics. 7 ‘‘(3) The Secretary, acting through the Director, 8 shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of 9 the House of Representatives and Senate an annual report 10 containing the information gathered pursuant to sub- 11 section (c)(1) and the national plan under paragraph (2) 12 of such subsection. 13 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 14 ‘‘(1) The term ‘rural recruitment employee’ 15 means an employee of a Veterans Integrated Service 16 Network designated under subsection (d) who is re- 17 sponsible for recruiting health care professionals for 18 rural and highly rural community-based outpatient 19 clinics and medical centers of the Department of 20 Veterans Affairs. 21 ‘‘(2) The terms ‘rural’ and ‘highly rural’ have 22 the meanings given such terms under the rural- 23 urban commuting codes developed by the Secretary 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5032.IH H5032 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 5032 IH of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and 1 Human Services.’’. 2 (b) DESIGNATION OF RURAL RECRUITMENT EM- 3 PLOYEE.—Not later than September 30, 2023, the direc- 4 tor of each Veterans Integrated Service Network that has 5 at least one rural or highly rural community-based out- 6 patient clinic shall designate a rural recruitment employee 7 as required by the strategy described under section 8 7308A(d) of title 38, United States Code, as added by 9 subsection (a). 10 (c) REPORTING TIMELINE.—The first reports under 11 paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of section 7308A(e) of title 12 38, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall 13 be submitted not later than 12 months, 18 months, and 14 24 months, respectively, after the date of the enactment 15 of this Act. 16 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 17 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 18 after the item relating to section 7308 the following new 19 item: 20 ‘‘7308A. Office of Rural Recruitment.’’. SEC. 3. STUDY ON A SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM AND ESTAB- 21 LISHMENT OF A FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM FOR 22 HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS. 23 (a) STUDY ON THE FEASIBILITY OF A RURAL RE- 24 CRUITMENT SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5032.IH H5032 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 5032 IH (1) FEASIBILITY STUDY.—The Director of the 1 Office of Rural Recruitment established under sec- 2 tion 7308A(a) of title 38, United States Code, as 3 added by section 1(a), shall conduct a study on the 4 feasibility of a scholarship program for health care 5 professionals to attend the Uniformed Services Uni- 6 versity of the Health Sciences in exchange for serv- 7 ice as full-time employees at a rural or highly rural 8 community-based outpatient clinic or medical center 9 of the Department of Veterans Affairs for a period 10 determined by the Director. 11 (2) REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION.—Not 12 later than September 30, 2022, the Secretary, acting 13 through the Director, shall submit to Congress a re- 14 port— 15 (A) on the study conducted pursuant to 16 paragraph (1); and 17 (B) containing a recommendation with re- 18 spect to the operation of and funding for the 19 program described under paragraph (1). 20 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF THE RURAL HEALTH QUAL- 21 ITY AND ACCESS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM.—In carrying 22 out section 7302 of title 38, United States Code, the Sec- 23 retary shall establish the Rural Health Quality and Access 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5032.IH H5032 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 5032 IH Fellowship program to provide fellowships to health care 1 professionals at the graduate or post-graduate level who— 2 (1) serve on a short-term basis as full-time em- 3 ployees at a rural or highly rural community-based 4 outpatient clinic or medical center of the Depart- 5 ment of Veterans Affairs; and 6 (2) conduct research on— 7 (A) improving the quality of rural health 8 care, including best practices for remote health 9 care; 10 (B) access to health care in rural areas; 11 and 12 (C) recruitment and retention of health 13 care professionals in rural areas. 14 (c) HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL DEFINED.—In 15 this Act, the term ‘‘health care professional’’ means an 16 individual who qualifies as an appointee under section 17 7402 of title 38, United States Code. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Nov 21, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5032.IH H5032 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS