[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1189 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1189

  To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to publish a strategic 
            plan for long-term care, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 7, 2005

  Mr. Salazar introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to publish a strategic 
            plan for long-term care, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The number of aging veterans in the United States is 
        increasing rapidly, with the number of veterans 85 years old 
        and older expected to increase from approximately 870,000 to 
        1,300,000 during the next 10 years.
            (2) This group of veterans will have a significant need for 
        nursing home care and will require a variety of 
        noninstitutional long-term care services.
            (3) The Department of Veterans Affairs is struggling to 
        meet its current obligations and is ill prepared to meet the 
        long-term care needs of America's aging veteran population.
            (4) Long-term care was not included in the Capital Asset 
        Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) process because of a 
        lack of forecasts and policies needed to project and plan to 
        meet future demands for long-term care.
            (5) The Department of Veterans Affairs has failed to comply 
        with the CARES Commission's 2003 recommendation to develop a 
        long-term care strategic plan, which failure has had a 
        detrimental effect on the welfare of veterans in need of such 
        care.

SEC. 2. STRATEGIC PLAN FOR LONG-TERM CARE.

    (a) Publication.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall publish 
a strategic plan for long-term care.
    (b) Contents.--The plan published under subsection (a) shall--
            (1) comply with the recommendations of the CARES 
        Commission;
            (2) contain policies and strategies for--
                    (A) the delivery of care in domiciliaries, 
                residential treatment facilities, and nursing homes, 
                and for seriously mentally ill veterans;
                    (B) maximizing the use of State veterans homes;
                    (C) locating domiciliary units as close to patient 
                populations as feasible; and
                    (D) identifying freestanding nursing homes as an 
                acceptable care model;
            (3) include data on--
                    (A) the care of catastrophically disabled veterans; 
                and
                    (B) the geographic distribution of catastrophically 
                disabled veterans;
            (4) address the spectrum of noninstitutional long-term care 
        options, including--
                    (A) respite care;
                    (B) home based primary care;
                    (C) geriatric evaluation;
                    (D) adult day health care;
                    (E) skilled home health care; and
                    (F) community residential care; and
            (5) provide--
                    (A) cost and quality comparison analyses of all the 
                different levels of care;
                    (B) detailed information about geographic 
                distribution of services and gaps in care; and
                    (C) specific plans for working with Medicare, 
                Medicaid, and private insurance companies to expand 
                care.
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