VA Clinical TEAM Culture Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7504 To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish standards and requirements for non-Department mental health care providers partici- pating in Department of Veterans Affairs Community Care program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 9, 2020 Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER (for herself, Mr. BILIRAKIS, and Mr. LEVIN of Cali- fornia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish standards and requirements for non-Department mental health care providers participating in Department of Vet- erans Affairs 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 ‘‘VA Clinical Training 4 in Evidence-based treatments And Military Culture Act of 5 2020’’ or the ‘‘VA Clinical TEAM Culture Act of 2020’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:00 Jul 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7504.IH H7504 2 •HR 7504 IH SEC. 2. STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS FOR NON-DE- 1 PARTMENT MENTAL HEALTH CARE PRO- 2 VIDERS PARTICIPATING IN DEPARTMENT OF 3 VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMUNITY CARE PRO- 4 GRAM. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 6 shall establish standards and requirements for the provi- 7 sion of mental health care by non-Department of Veterans 8 Affairs health care providers under the Community Care 9 program of the Department under section 1703 of title 10 38, United States Code. Such standards shall be the same 11 as the standards and requirements applicable to Depart- 12 ment employees who provide such mental health care. 13 (b) TRAINING REQUIREMENT.—Not later than the 14 date that is 180 days after the date on which a provider 15 of mental health care becomes an approved provider under 16 the Community Care program of the Department under 17 section 1703 of title 38, United States Code, the Secretary 18 shall require the provider to complete— 19 (1) the basic course described in subsection 20 (c)(1); and 21 (2) each of the four clinical domain courses de- 22 scribed in subsection (c)(2). 23 (c) COURSES DESCRIBED.— 24 (1) BASIC COURSE.—The course described in 25 this paragraph is— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Jul 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7504.IH H7504 3 •HR 7504 IH (A) a free, four-module course, made avail- 1 able online, that is developed by the Depart- 2 ment of Veterans Affairs about military culture 3 and core competencies for health care profes- 4 sionals; or 5 (B) a successor course or other course the 6 Secretary determines is comparable to the 7 course described in subparagraph (A). 8 (2) CLINICAL DOMAIN COURSES.—The courses 9 described in this paragraph are free courses, made 10 available online, in each of the following clinical do- 11 mains: 12 (A) Evaluation and management of sui- 13 cide. 14 (B) Post-traumatic stress disorder. 15 (C) Traumatic brain injury. 16 (D) Military sexual trauma. 17 (3) CONTINUING EDUCATION.—Each course de- 18 scribed in this subsection shall be designed to meet 19 continuing education requirements for mental health 20 care providers. 21 (d) ADDITIONAL TRAINING.— 22 (1) IDENTIFICATION OF TRAINING AREAS.—Not 23 later than two years after the date of the enactment 24 of this Act, the Secretary shall identify at least three 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Jul 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7504.IH H7504 4 •HR 7504 IH clinical domains for which the need for care among 1 veterans is high and shall develop training courses in 2 those clinical domains. 3 (2) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 60 days 4 after the training courses developed pursuant to 5 paragraph (1) are made available, the Secretary 6 shall require all non-Department mental health care 7 providers approved under the Community Care pro- 8 gram of the Department under section 1703 of title 9 38, United States Code, to complete the courses. 10 (e) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit to 11 the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 12 House of Representatives an annual report on the require- 13 ments of this section. Each such report shall include, for 14 the year covered by the report, the number of non-Depart- 15 ment mental health care providers who have completed the 16 requirements under this section. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:12 Jul 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7504.IH H7504