[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9864 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9864

   To amend title 10, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of 
 Defense to include on a website of the Department of Defense certain 
information with respect to a patient booking an appointment for health 
care provided under the TRICARE program at a military medical treatment 
                   facility, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 22, 2026

  Mr. Neguse introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 10, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of 
 Defense to include on a website of the Department of Defense certain 
information with respect to a patient booking an appointment for health 
care provided under the TRICARE program at a military medical treatment 
                   facility, 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 ``Reducing Military Health Care Wait 
Times Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Our uniformed service-members, veterans, and their 
        families deserve high-quality, timely health care.
            (2) The annual TRICARE Program Evaluation Report to 
        Congress required by section 171 of the National Defense 
        Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 (10 U.S.C. 1073 note) 
        provides Congress and the public with critical information 
        about the effectiveness of our military health care programs 
        and identifies opportunities for improvement.
            (3) In the Fiscal Year 2024 TRICARE Program Evaluation 
        Report of the Defense Health Agency, such Agency voluntarily 
        provided helpful information about--
                    (A) the average number of days between the date an 
                individual books an appointment at a military medical 
                treatment facility and the date of such appointment; 
                and
                    (B) the percentage of referrals of an individual to 
                another health care facility that are made not later 
                than one business day after the date on which such 
                individual contacted the military medical treatment 
                facility.
            (4) This information is valuable to Congress and the 
        public, and it should be statutorily required as part of the 
        annual TRICARE Program Evaluation Report.

SEC. 3. INCLUSION ON A WEBSITE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE OF CERTAIN 
              INFORMATION WITH RESPECT TO A PATIENT BOOKING AN 
              APPOINTMENT AT A MILITARY MEDICAL TREATMENT FACILITY.

    Section 1073b(b)(1) of title 10, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking ``The Secretary'' and inserting ``(A) The 
        Secretary''; and
            (2) by striking ``Such data'' and all that follows and 
        inserting the following new subparagraph:
    ``(B) The data made available under subparagraph (A) shall include 
the following:
            ``(i) The core performance metrics adopted by the Secretary 
        under section 728 of the National Defense Authorization Act for 
        Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114-328; 130 Stat. 2234).
            ``(ii) The average number of days between the date an 
        individual books an appointment at a military medical treatment 
        facility and the date of such appointment.
            ``(iii) The percentage of referrals of an individual to 
        another health care facility that are made not later than one 
        business day after the date on which such individual contacted 
        the military medical treatment facility.''.
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