[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 221 Referred in House (RFH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 221


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 23, 2019

             Referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
 To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Under Secretary 
 of Health to report major adverse personnel actions involving certain 
  health care employees to the National Practitioner Data Bank and to 
       applicable State licensing boards, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Department of Veterans Affairs 
Provider Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. ACCOUNTABILITY WITHIN VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION.

    (a) Reporting Major Adverse Actions to National Practitioner Data 
Bank and State Licensing Boards.--Section 7461 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(f)(1) Whenever the Under Secretary for Health (or an official 
designated by the Under Secretary) brings charges based on conduct or 
performance against a section 7401(1) employee and as a result of those 
charges a covered major adverse action is taken against the employee, 
the Under Secretary shall, not later than 30 days after the date on 
which such covered major adverse action is carried out--
            ``(A) transmit to the National Practitioner Data Bank of 
        the Department of Health and Human Services and the applicable 
        State licensing board the name of the employee, a description 
        of the covered major adverse action, and a description of the 
        reason for the covered major adverse action; and
            ``(B) update the VetPro System, or successor system, with a 
        record of the covered major adverse action taken and an 
        indication that information was transmitted under subparagraph 
        (A).
    ``(2) The Under Secretary for Health--
            ``(A) shall enroll all 7401(1) employees in a continuous 
        query of their record within the National Practitioner Data 
        Bank; and
            ``(B) shall develop and implement a mechanism for 
        maintaining and updating the information collected through such 
        continuous query within the VetPro System, or successor system, 
        to facilitate the sharing of such information between Veterans 
        Integrated Service Networks.
    ``(3) In this subsection, the term `covered major adverse action' 
means a major adverse action with respect to a section 7401(1) employee 
that originated from circumstances in which the behavior of the 
employee so substantially failed to meet generally-accepted standards 
of clinical practice as to raise reasonable concern for safety of 
patients.''.
    (b) Prohibition on Signing Settlements With Certain Clauses.--
            (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
        Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not enter into a settlement 
        agreement relating to an adverse action against a section 
        7401(1) employee under which the Department of Veterans Affairs 
        would be required to conceal a serious medical error or a lapse 
        in generally-accepted standards of clinical practice.
            (2) Exception.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a negative 
        record if the head of the Office of Accountability and 
        Whistleblower Protection of the Department and the Special 
        Counsel (established by section 1211 of title 5, United States 
        Code) jointly certify that the negative record is not 
        legitimate.
    (c) Training on Credentialing and Privileging.--The Under Secretary 
for Health of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall provide to all 
staff of the Veterans Health Administration who handle hiring, 
privileging, and credentialing mandatory training on--
            (1) all policies of the Veterans Health Administration for 
        credentialing and privileging; and
            (2) when and how to report adverse actions to the National 
        Practitioner Data Bank of the Department of Health and Human 
        Services, State licensing boards, and other relevant entities.
    (d) Sense of Congress on Updates to the VHA Handbook.--It is the 
sense of Congress that--
            (1) Congress recognizes that the confusion regarding 
        practices in the Veterans Health Administration for reporting 
        to State licensing boards stems from a lack of guidance in the 
        Veterans Health Administration handbook 1100.18;
            (2) Congress strongly recommends that the Secretary of 
        Veterans Affairs update such handbook to ensure that employees 
        of the Veterans Health Administration, officials of the 
        Veterans Integrated Services Networks, and officials of the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs understand and are able to 
        utilize the role of State licensing boards to effectively 
        prevent instances of failed reporting and future patient safety 
        concerns;
            (3) Congress recognizes the broad authority of the Veterans 
        Health Administration to report to State licensing boards those 
        employed or separated health care professionals whose behavior 
        and clinical practice so substantially failed to meet 
        generally-accepted standards of clinical practice as to raise 
        reasonable concern for safety of patients and requests that 
        such handbook is updated to reflect appropriate reporting 
        channels to ensure employee understanding of those procedures 
        and authorities; and
            (4) in developing the new handbook, the Secretary of 
        Veterans Affairs should consult with--
                    (A) State licensing boards;
                    (B) the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services;
                    (C) the National Practitioner Data Bank of the 
                Department of Health and Human Services; and
                    (D) the exclusive representative of section 7401(1) 
                employees.
    (e) Section 7401(1) Employee Defined.--In this section, the term 
``section 7401(1) employee'' has the meaning given that term in section 
7461(c)(1) of title 38, United States Code.

            Passed the Senate December 19, 2019.

            Attest:

                                                JULIE E. ADAMS,

                                                             Secretary.