[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3598 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3598

      To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a 
 comprehensive standard for timing between referrals and appointments 
for care from the Department of Veterans Affairs and to submit a report 
         with respect to that standard, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 17, 2024

Mr. Scott of Florida (for himself, Mr. Ossoff, and Mr. Cruz) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                          on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a 
 comprehensive standard for timing between referrals and appointments 
for care from the Department of Veterans Affairs and to submit a report 
         with respect to that standard, 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 ``Scheduling for Community Health and 
Easy Data to Understand for Legislators to Evaluate Services Act of 
2024'' or the ``SCHEDULES Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE STANDARD FOR TIMING BETWEEN 
              REFERRAL AND APPOINTMENT FOR CARE FROM DEPARTMENT OF 
              VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) Establishment of Standard.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
        establish a comprehensive standard for timing between the date 
        on which a referral for care for a veteran under the laws 
        administered by the Secretary is entered into the care 
        coordination system of the Department of Veterans Affairs and 
        the date on which an appointment for care for the veteran 
        occurs, whether at a facility of the Department or through care 
        in the community.
            (2) Modification.--The Secretary may modify the standard 
        established under paragraph (1) as the appointment scheduling 
        processes of the Department for care at a facility of the 
        Department or through care in the community are updated.
            (3) Publication.--Not later than 30 days before 
        establishing under paragraph (1) or modifying under paragraph 
        (2) the comprehensive standard required under this subsection, 
        the Secretary shall publish such standard in the Federal 
        Register and on a publicly available internet website of the 
        Department.
    (b) Report.--
            (1) In general.--Not less frequently than quarterly, the 
        Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the number and 
        percentage of referrals from the Department to facilities of 
        the Department or providers in the community that meet the 
        standard under subsection (a).
            (2) Elements.--Each report submitted under paragraph (1) 
        shall include the following:
                    (A) The number and percentage of total referrals 
                from each facility of the Department that meet, for the 
                quarter covered by the report--
                            (i) the standard under subsection (a);
                            (ii) with respect to referrals to a 
                        facility of the Department, the three-business-
                        day standard for scheduling an appointment at a 
                        facility of the Department; and
                            (iii) with respect to referrals for care in 
                        the community, the seven-calendar-day standard 
                        for scheduling an appointment for care in the 
                        community.
                    (B) The number and percentage of referrals from 
                each facility of the Department that meet each of the 
                standards specified in subparagraph (A), disaggregated 
                by each of the five, or more, most in-demand categories 
                of care provided at such facility (such as mental 
                health, cardiology, neurology, oncology, etc.).
                    (C) A list of all medical centers of the Department 
                ranked from best to worst in meeting the standard under 
                subsection (a), including a disaggregated list by 
                State.
            (3) Annually included information.--Not less frequently 
        than annually, the Secretary shall include in the report 
        required under paragraph (1)--
                    (A) aggregated data for the four-quarter period 
                preceding the date of the report;
                    (B) a description of steps taken by the Department 
                to improve the timeliness of the provision of care by 
                the Department and an estimate of when the Department 
                will be fully compliant with the standard under 
                subsection (a).
            (4) Public availability.--The Secretary shall make each 
        report required under paragraph (1) publicly available on a 
        website of the Veterans Health Administration.
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