[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3951 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3951

To establish in the Veterans Health Administration of the Department of 
          Veterans Affairs the Office of Health Care Quality.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 5, 2015

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To establish in the Veterans Health Administration of the Department of 
          Veterans Affairs the Office of Health Care Quality.

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

SECTION 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF HEALTH CARE QUALITY IN VETERANS 
              HEALTH ADMINISTRATION.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter I of chapter 73 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 7310. Office of Health Care Quality
    ``(a) Establishment.--There is in the Veterans Health 
Administration an Office of Health Care Quality (hereinafter in this 
section referred to as the `Office'). The Office shall oversee the 
implementation and dissemination across all medical facilities of the 
Department of best practices, quality improvements, corrective actions, 
and Inspector General recommendations.
    ``(b) Director.--(1) The head of the Office shall be a Director, 
who shall report directly to the Under Secretary for Health (without 
delegation).
    ``(2) Any person appointed as Director shall be--
            ``(A) an established expert in the field of health care 
        quality, administration of medical facilities, or similar 
        fields; and
            ``(B) qualified to carry out the duties of the Office based 
        on demonstrated experience and expertise.
    ``(c) Functions.--The functions of the Office are as follows:
            ``(1) To develop and maintain a system to provide notice to 
        all medical facilities of the Department of any applicable best 
        practices, quality improvements, corrective actions, and 
        Inspector General recommendations.
            ``(2) To monitor the compliance of such medical facilities 
        with such best practices, quality improvements, corrective 
        actions, and Inspector General recommendations.
    ``(d) Resources.--The Secretary shall ensure that the Director has 
sufficient resources to carry out the responsibilities of the Director 
in a timely manner.
    ``(e) Report.--The Director shall submit to Congress an annual 
report on the progress of the medical facilities of the Department in 
implementing applicable best practices, quality improvements, 
corrective actions, and Inspector General recommendations.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
7309 the following new item:

``7310. Office of Health Care Quality.''.
    (c) Deadline for Implementation.--Not later than one year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Health 
Care Quality, as established under section 7310 of title 38, United 
States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall develop an initial 
system for proving the notice required under such section 7310.
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