[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4041 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4041

 To authorize certain improvements in the Federal Recovery Coordinator 
                    Program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 6, 2009

  Mr. Barrow introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To authorize certain improvements in the Federal Recovery Coordinator 
                    Program, 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) Americans owe their freedom and livelihood to the 
        sacrifices that have been made by brave veterans.
            (2) The United States, therefore, has an obligation to 
        provide veterans with adequate care and resources to make their 
        transition into civilian life as smooth as possible.
            (3) The Department of Defense and the Department of 
        Veterans Affairs offer many high quality services to help 
        veterans in this transition, but there has not been a good 
        mechanism for providing coordinated medical care for wounded 
        warriors (veterans injured in the line of duty).
            (4) The Dole-Shalala Commission has recommended that a 
        nationwide Federal Recovery Coordinator Program be implemented 
        to help expand partnerships and collaborations and establish 
        new relationships for the benefit of members of the Armed 
        Forces returning from serving in support of Operation Iraqi 
        Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom and their families.
            (5) The Federal Recovery Coordinator Program has been 
        implemented successfully at the city level in one city in the 
        country and the existing program should serve as the model for 
        national implementation.

SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT OF FEDERAL RECOVERY COORDINATOR PROGRAM.

    (a) Provision of Collaborative Recovery Coordinator Training.--The 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall provide collaborative recovery 
coordinator training at a qualified nursing or medical school selected 
by the Secretary (hereinafter in this section referred to as the 
``qualified nursing or medical school''), to lead systematic evidence 
review of care coordination and consensus conference to build the model 
on evidence-based guidelines.
    (b) Literature Review; Consensus Conference.--
            (1) In general.--The qualified nursing or medical school is 
        hereby designated to lead literature review and development of 
        evidence-based guidelines for recovery coordination, 
        development of training modules for care coordination and 
        software that is compatible with Department of Veterans Affairs 
        systems for recovery coordination. The qualified nursing or 
        medical school is hereby designated to lead a consensus 
        conference on evidence-based care coordination.
            (2) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized 
        to be appropriated $1,200,000 to carry out this subsection.
    (c) Care Coordination Software Development.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall--
                    (A) enter into a subcontractor with an appropriate 
                entity for the development of care coordination 
                software;
                    (B) carry out a conference for recovery coordinator 
                tool validation; and
                    (C) carry out a software pilot program.
            (2) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized 
        to be appropriated $1,200,000 to carry out this subsection.
    (d) Recovery Coordinator Training.--
            (1) In general.--The qualified nursing or medical school is 
        authorized to train 45 recovery coordinators.
            (2) Authorization of appropriations.--For each of fiscal 
        years 2010, 2011, and 2012, there is authorized to be 
        appropriated $500,000 for training authorized under this 
        subsection.
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