[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1266 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.1266

                     One Hundred Fifteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
          the third day of January, two thousand and seventeen


                                 An Act


 
 To authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to enter into contracts 
   with nonprofit organizations to investigate medical centers of the 
                     Department of Veterans Affairs.

    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 ``Enhancing Veteran Care Act''.
SEC. 2. INVESTIGATION OF MEDICAL CENTERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 
AFFAIRS.
    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may contract 
with a nonprofit organization that accredits health care organizations 
and programs in the United States to investigate a medical center of 
the Department of Veterans Affairs to assess and report deficiencies of 
the facilities at such medical center.
    (b) Authority of Directors.--
        (1) In general.--Subject to coordination under paragraph (2), 
    the Secretary shall delegate the authority under subsection (a) to 
    contract for an investigation at a medical center of the Department 
    to the Director of the Veterans Integrated Service Network in which 
    the medical center is located or the director of such medical 
    center.
        (2) Coordination.--Before entering into a contract under 
    paragraph (1), the Director of a Veterans Integrated Service 
    Network or the director of a medical center, as the case may be, 
    shall notify the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Inspector 
    General of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Comptroller 
    General of the United States for purposes of coordinating any 
    investigation conducted pursuant to such contract with any other 
    investigations that may be ongoing.
    (c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section may be 
construed--
        (1) to prevent the Office of the Inspector General of the 
    Department of Veterans Affairs from conducting any review, audit, 
    evaluation, or inspection regarding a topic for which an 
    investigation is conducted under this section; or
        (2) to modify the requirement that employees of the Department 
    assist with any review, audit, evaluation, or inspection conducted 
    by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.