[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 663 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 663

To establish the position of Choice Program Ombudsman within the Office 
 of Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs to manage 
    complaints regarding the provision of hospital care and medical 
    services under section 101 of the Veterans Access, Choice, and 
                      Accountability Act of 2014.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 15, 2017

   Mr. Thune introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To establish the position of Choice Program Ombudsman within the Office 
 of Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs to manage 
    complaints regarding the provision of hospital care and medical 
    services under section 101 of the Veterans Access, Choice, and 
                      Accountability Act of 2014.

    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 ``Veterans Choice Program Resolution 
Act''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF POSITION OF CHOICE PROGRAM OMBUDSMAN.

    (a) In General.--The Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability 
Act of 2014 (Public Law 113-146; 38 U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended by 
inserting after section 101 the following new section:

``SEC. 101A. CHOICE PROGRAM OMBUDSMAN.

    ``(a) In General.--The Inspector General of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs shall select, from among employees of the Office of 
Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs, a Choice 
Program Ombudsman to manage complaints regarding the provision of 
hospital care and medical services under section 101.
    ``(b) Duties.--The Choice Program Ombudsman shall do the following:
            ``(1) Serve as a central collection point to receive 
        complaints from veterans, individuals acting on behalf of 
        veterans (including family members and caregivers), employees 
        of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and non-Department 
        health care providers with respect to the following:
                    ``(A) Problems with scheduling veterans to obtain 
                hospital care or medical services under section 101.
                    ``(B) Problems with authorizing such care or 
                services under such section.
                    ``(C) With respect to non-Department health care 
                providers, problems with enrolling with the Department 
                to provide such care or services under such section.
                    ``(D) Problems with copayments and reimbursements 
                under such section.
                    ``(E) Problems with coordinating such care or 
                services between the Department and non-Department 
                health care providers.
            ``(2) Establish a methodology to resolve complaints 
        described in paragraph (1).
            ``(3) Submit to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the 
        Senate and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of 
        Representatives a quarterly report on activities conducted 
        under this section, including the following information:
                    ``(A) The total number of complaints received under 
                this section.
                    ``(B) The total number of such complaints that have 
                been resolved and the total number of such complaints 
                that are pending.
                    ``(C) With respect to every other report submitted 
                under this paragraph, beginning with the first such 
                report, the findings or recommendations of the Choice 
                Program Ombudsman for resolving systemic problems with 
                the provision of hospital care and medical services 
                under section 101, including recommendations to improve 
                the implementation of such section in rural and highly 
                rural areas and for veterans who are members of Indian 
                tribes.
    ``(c) Complaint Submission Process.--The Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs shall publish on a publicly available Internet website of the 
Department, and a publicly available Internet website of the Office of 
Inspector General of the Department, information regarding the process 
for submitting a complaint to the Choice Program Ombudsman under this 
section.
    ``(d) Sunset.--This section shall terminate on the earlier of--
            ``(1) the termination date specified in section 101(p); or
            ``(2) the date that is 10 years after the date of the 
        enactment of the Veterans Choice Program Resolution Act.
    ``(e) Indian Tribe Defined.--In this section, the term `Indian 
tribe' has the meaning given that term in section 4 of the Indian Self-
Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b).''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents at the beginning of 
the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 is amended 
by inserting after the item relating to section 101 the following new 
item:

``Sec. 101A. Choice Program Ombudsman.''.
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