<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<BillSummaries>
<item congress="113" measure-type="hr" measure-number="4971" measure-id="id113hr4971" originChamber="HOUSE" orig-publish-date="2014-06-25" update-date="2014-09-05">
<title>Ask Veterans Act</title>
<summary summary-id="id113hr4971v00" currentChamber="HOUSE" update-date="2014-09-05">
<action-date>2014-06-25</action-date>
<action-desc>Introduced in House</action-desc>
<summary-text><![CDATA[<p>Ask Veterans Act - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to contract with an experienced non-government entity to conduct an annual survey, over a five-year period, of a statistically significant sample of veterans who reside in the geographic area served by each VA medical facility to determine the experiences of such veterans in obtaining hospital care and medical services at such facility.</p> <p>Requires those surveys to include questions relating to:</p> <ul> <li>the veteran's ability to obtain hospital care and medical services at the facility in a timely manner,</li> <li>the time that expires between the date the veteran requests an appointment and the date on which the appointment is scheduled,</li> <li>the frequency with which scheduled appointments are cancelled, and</li> <li>the quality of hospital care or medical services the veteran receives.</li> </ul> <p>Requires the non-government entity to consult with veterans service organizations in designing and conducting the surveys.</p> <p>Prohibits the non-government entity from conducting a survey before the Comptroller General (GAO) certifies the survey as scientifically valid and the proposed sample size of veterans as statistically significant.</p> <p>Directs the Secretary to make the results of the surveys publicly available on the VA's Internet website.</p>]]></summary-text>
</summary>
</item>
<dublinCore xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
<dc:format>text/xml</dc:format>
<dc:language>EN</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
<dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
<dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
</dublinCore>
</BillSummaries>
