[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6421 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6421

   To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of 
 Veterans Affairs to ensure the timely scheduling of appointments for 
    health care at medical facilities of the Department of Veterans 
                    Affairs, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 19, 2022

Mr. Baird (for himself, Mr. Mast, Mrs. Miller-Meeks, and Mr. Carbajal) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of 
 Veterans Affairs to ensure the timely scheduling of appointments for 
    health care at medical facilities of the Department of Veterans 
                    Affairs, 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 ``VA Same-Day Scheduling Act of 
2022''.

SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT FOR TIMELY SCHEDULING OF APPOINTMENTS AT MEDICAL 
              FACILITIES OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) Requirement.--Chapter 17 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating section 1706A as section 1706B; and
            (2) by inserting after section 1706 the following new 
        section:
``Sec. 1706A. Management of health care: timely scheduling of 
              appointments at Department facilities
    ``(a) Requirement for Scheduling.--In managing the provision of 
hospital care and medical services at medical facilities of the 
Department of Veterans Affairs under this chapter, the Secretary shall 
ensure that whenever a covered veteran contacts the Department by 
telephone to request the scheduling of an appointment for care or 
services for the covered veteran at such a facility, the scheduling for 
the appointment occurs during that telephone call (regardless of the 
prospective date of the appointment being scheduled).
    ``(b) Covered Veteran Defined.--In this section, the term `covered 
veteran' means a veteran who is enrolled in the system of patient 
enrollment of the Department under section 1705(a) of this title.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by striking the item relating to section 1706A 
and inserting the following new items:

``1706A. Management of health care: timely scheduling of appointments 
                            at Department facilities.
``1706B. Remediation of medical service lines.''.
    (c) Applicability.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to requests for appointment scheduling occurring on 
or after the date that is 120 days after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
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