[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6800 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6800

 To amend title 38, United States Code, to codify the requirements for 
appointment, qualifications, and pay for therapeutic medical physicists 
     of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 14, 2023

  Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick (for herself and Mrs. Kiggans of Virginia) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 38, United States Code, to codify the requirements for 
appointment, qualifications, and pay for therapeutic medical physicists 
     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 ``Department of Veterans Affairs 
Therapeutic Medical Physicist Pay Cap Relief Act''.

SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF THERAPEUTIC MEDICAL PHYSICISTS OF THE DEPARTMENT 
              OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) Appointment.--Section 7401(1) of title 38, United States Code, 
is amended by inserting ``therapeutic medical physicists,'' after 
``physician assistants,''.
    (b) Qualifications.--Section 7402(b) of such title is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraph (14) as paragraph (15); and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (13) the following new 
        paragraph (14):
    ``(14) Therapeutic Medical Physicist.--To be eligible to be 
appointed to a therapeutic medical physicist position, a person must--
            ``(A) have completed a post-graduate clinical training 
        program in therapeutic medical physics satisfactory to the 
        Secretary; and
            ``(B) be board certified in the field of therapeutic 
        medical physics by a certifying body approved by the 
        Secretary.''.
    (c) Grade.--Section 7404 of such title is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``therapeutic medical physicist,'' after 
        ``podiatrist (dpm),''; and
            (2) by inserting after ``Podiatrist grade.'' the following:
    ``Therapeutic medical physicist grade.''.
    (d) Personnel Administration.--Section 7421(b) of such title is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraph (9) as paragraph (10); and
            (2) by inserting, after paragraph (8), the following new 
        paragraph (9):
            ``(9) Therapeutic medical physicists.''.
    (e) Pay.--
            (1) In general.--Section 7431 of such title is amended--
                    (A) by inserting ``, Therapeutic Medical 
                Physicist'' before ``, and Dentist Base'' each place it 
                appears;
                    (B) by inserting ``therapeutic medical physicist,'' 
                after ``podiatrist,'' each place it appears;
                    (C) by inserting ``therapeutic medical 
                physicists,'' after ``podiatrists,'' each place it 
                appears; and
                    (D) in subsection (e)(1)(A), by inserting ``, 
                therapeutic medical physicists,'' after 
                ``podiatrists''.
            (2) Administrative matters.--Section 7433 of such title is 
        amended by inserting ``therapeutic medical physicists,'' after 
        ``podiatrists,'' each place it appears.
            (3) Conforming amendment.--The heading of subchapter III of 
        chapter 74 of such title is amended by inserting ``THERAPEUTIC 
        MEDICAL PHYSICISTS,'' after ``PODIATRISTS,''.
            (4) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections at the 
        beginning of chapter 74 of such title is amended by striking 
        the item relating to subchapter III and inserting the following 
        new item:

 ``subchapter iii--pay for physicians, podiatrists, therapeutic medical 
                      physicists, and dentists''.

    (f) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the 
Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and House of 
Representatives a report on the amendments made by this section. Such 
report shall include the following:
            (1) The effects of an increase in pay for therapeutic 
        medical physicists employed on a full-time basis within the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs.
            (2) The effects on therapeutic medical physicists who 
        provide care pursuant to an agreement with the Secretary.
            (3) Any change to costs to the Department.
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