[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1721 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1721

   To require the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs to establish a joint uniform formulary with respect to systemic 
pain and psychotropic drugs that are critical for the transition of an 
    individual from receiving health care services furnished by the 
Secretary of Defense to health care services furnished by the Secretary 
              of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              July 8, 2015

 Mr. Blumenthal (for himself and Mr. McCain) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs to establish a joint uniform formulary with respect to systemic 
pain and psychotropic drugs that are critical for the transition of an 
    individual from receiving health care services furnished by the 
Secretary of Defense to health care services furnished by the Secretary 
              of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Joint Formularies for Veterans Act 
of 2015''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF STRATEGIC UNIFORM DRUG FORMULARY FOR THE 
              PROVISION OF HEALTH CARE SERVICES TO MEMBERS OF THE ARMED 
              FORCES UNDERGOING SEPARATION FROM THE ARMED FORCES.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs shall jointly establish a process to make available to 
individuals undergoing the transition from the receipt of health care 
services through the Department of Defense to the receipt of such 
services through the Department of Veterans Affairs systemic pain and 
psychotropic drugs that are critical to the Department of Defense and 
the Department of Veterans Affairs for the appropriate and effective 
provision of health care services to such individuals.
    (b) Strategic Uniform Formulary.--
            (1) In general.--In carrying out subsection (a), the 
        Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
        shall jointly establish, and from time to time update, a 
        strategic, evidence-based, uniform formulary for the Department 
        of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs that includes 
        all appropriate systemic pain and psychotropic drugs that the 
        Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
        jointly determine are critical to the Department of Defense and 
        the Department of Veterans Affairs for the appropriate and 
        effective provision of health care services to individuals 
        described in such subsection.
            (2) Inapplicability of certain provisions of law.--Section 
        1074g of title 10, United States Code, shall not apply to the 
        establishing and updating of the formulary required by 
        paragraph (1).
    (c) Preservation of Authority.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to prohibit the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs from each maintaining their own formularies.
    (d) Report.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense and the 
        Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall jointly submit to the 
        appropriate committees of Congress a report on the 
        establishment of the formulary under subsection (b).
            (2) Appropriate committees of congress defined.--In this 
        subsection, the term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' 
        means--
                    (A) the Committee on Armed Services and the 
                Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Armed Services and the 
                Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of 
                Representatives.
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