[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 552 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 552

 To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that the South 
Texas Veterans Affairs Health Care Center in Harlingen, Texas, includes 
  a full-service Department of Veterans Affairs inpatient health care 
                               facility.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 6, 2013

 Mr. Hinojosa (for himself, Mr. Vela, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Castro of Texas, 
   Mr. Cuellar, Mr. Veasey, Mr. Gallego, Mr. O'Rourke, Ms. Linda T. 
 Sanchez of California, and Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that the South 
Texas Veterans Affairs Health Care Center in Harlingen, Texas, includes 
  a full-service Department of Veterans Affairs inpatient health care 
                               facility.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Meeting the Inpatient Health Care 
Needs of Far South Texas Veterans Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The current and future health care needs of veterans 
        residing in the Far South Texas area are not being fully met by 
        the Department of Veterans Affairs.
            (2) The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that more 
        than 117,000 veterans reside in Far South Texas.
            (3) In its Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services 
        study, the Department of Veterans Affairs found that fewer than 
        3 percent of its enrollees in the Valley-Coastal Bend Market of 
        Veterans Integrated Service Network 17 reside within its acute 
        hospital access standards.
            (4) Travel times for veterans from the market referred to 
        in paragraph (3) can exceed six hours from their residences to 
        the nearest Department of Veterans Affairs hospital for acute 
        inpatient health care.
            (5) Even with the significant travel times, veterans from 
        Far South Texas demonstrate a high demand for health care 
        services from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
            (6) Current deployments involving members of the Texas 
        National Guard and other members of the reserve components of 
        the Armed Forces who reside in Texas will continue to increase 
        demand for medical services provided by the Department of 
        Veterans Affairs.

SEC. 3. INPATIENT HEALTH CARE AT THE SOUTH TEXAS VETERANS AFFAIRS 
              HEALTH CARE CENTER.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall ensure 
that the South Texas Veterans Affairs Health Care Center in Harlingen, 
Texas, includes a full-service Department of Veterans Affairs inpatient 
health care facility and, if necessary, shall modify the existing 
facility to meet this requirement.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 
Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs 
of the House of Representatives a report outlining the specific actions 
the Secretary plans to take to satisfy the requirements in subsection 
(a), including a detailed estimate of the cost of such actions, if any, 
and the time necessary for completion of any modification required by 
such subsection.
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