[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13578-13579]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        VET CONNECT ACT OF 2016

  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 5162) to amend title 38, United States Code, to 
authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to disclose to non-
Department of Veterans Affairs health care providers certain medical 
records of veterans who receive health care from such providers.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 5162

       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 ``Vet Connect Act of 2016''.

     SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO DISCLOSE CERTAIN MEDICAL RECORDS OF 
                   VETERANS WHO RECEIVE NON-DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 
                   AFFAIRS HEALTH CARE.

       Section 7332(b)(2) of title 38, United States Code, is 
     amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
       ``(H) To a non-Department entity (including private 
     entities and other departments or agencies of the Federal 
     Government) that provides hospital care or medical treatment 
     to veterans.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Miller) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida.


                             General Leave

  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members would have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks or add any extraneous material.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5162, the Vet Connect 
Act.
  Ensuring that veterans receive high-quality care has been a top 
priority of mine and our committee, and as the access and 
accountability crisis of 2014 so clearly demonstrated, the Department 
of Veterans Affairs alone cannot provide the timely access to care that 
our veterans deserve.
  While the passage of the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability 
Act 2 years ago has led to an increase in VA's use of community 
providers to treat veteran patients and linked many veterans to care 
they would otherwise be waiting for, the Department's struggle to 
adequately and consistently communicate with community partners about 
the veterans they are jointly caring for now has presented unnecessary 
challenges to VA's care in the communities' efforts.
  H.R. 5162 would correct this deficiency by requiring VA to share 
medical record information with community providers in order to provide 
care or treatment to a shared patient. Mr. Speaker, this would ensure 
that any provider caring for a VA patient, whether in a VA medical 
facility or in a private sector doctor's office, has the information 
that they need to provide safe and quality care.
  H.R. 5162 is sponsored by my friend and colleague and fellow 
committee member, Congressman Beto O'Rourke from Texas. I am grateful 
to him for his efforts and his leadership in sponsoring this important 
legislation.
  This bill is supported by the American Legion, the Veterans of 
Foreign Wars of the United States, and the Vietnam Veterans of America, 
and I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting it as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5162, the Vet 
Connect Act of 2016. The bill is sponsored by my friend and classmate, 
Congressman Beto O'Rourke.
  In 2014, when Congress passed the Veterans Access, Choice, and 
Accountability Act, we created a program called Choice, to make access 
to care easier for veterans who were unable to get an appointment at 
their local VA medical center. These veterans have

[[Page 13579]]

now been able to get care closer to their home with the provider of 
their choice.
  However, current law prevented the community providers from getting 
records from the VA regarding the previous care veterans had received. 
This bill gives the VA authority to disclose certain medical records of 
veterans who receive non-VA care to community providers.
  Essentially, this would allow the VA to share health information with 
the veteran's non-VA doctor without having HIPAA implications. Current 
treatments are already covered under HIPAA, and this bill would allow 
previous treatments to be disclosed, thereby improving the continuity 
of care.

                              {time}  1600

  I commend my colleague from Texas for being a leader in ensuring 
safe, quality health care for veterans. He has been a champion for 
veterans in El Paso and has turned the concerns that he has heard from 
his constituents into thoughtful legislation that helps veterans across 
our country.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly support this legislation and urge my 
colleagues to support this bill as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
O'Rourke), the author of this bill.
  Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to thank my colleague, 
the ranking member, Mr. Takano from California, for his support and his 
work on the committee and not just promoting commonsense bills like 
these, but working across the aisle with colleagues on both sides to 
ensure that we move the concerns and the cares of veterans in this 
country forward. His leadership at this critical time is so important, 
and I am grateful for it.
  I would also like to thank the chairman of our committee, Mr. Miller 
from Florida, for his leadership in really ensuring that the House 
Veterans' Affairs Committee remains one of the most important and 
perhaps one of the last refuges for bipartisanship in Congress. It is 
really through his leadership--and I have been lucky enough to serve 
with him now almost 4 years--that we have been able to do some really 
outstanding things for veterans in this country. I know that he would 
be the first to agree that we are not there yet. There is no ``mission 
accomplished'' banner that hangs behind us, but we have made 
extraordinary progress under his guidance and his willingness to work 
with Members from both sides of the aisle--all Members of the 
committee--and I am truly grateful for his support of this bill.
  I should also note, Mr. Speaker, that this bill is cosponsored by Dr. 
Benishek from Michigan, a stout defender of veterans and, from his 
medical background, someone who is uniquely capable of informing 
important legislation like this one.
  As both of the previous speakers have stated, this ensures that we 
connect veterans in our communities, the places that we represent, with 
the care that they have earned and that they deserve. In the VA today, 
we have an acknowledged shortage of 43,000 clinical positions. We have 
to acknowledge that we will not be able to see every single veteran in 
the instances when they most need care with current capacity within the 
VA. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to ensure that we leverage the 
capacity of the doctors, nurses, and providers in the communities that 
we represent to the best of our ability. Critical to that is health 
information exchange records sharing so that the doctors in the 
community know what they need to know about the veteran they are about 
to see so they deliver the best, most informed care that they can 
possibly deliver, and that we get the best outcomes for these veterans.
  This bill ensures that we share medical information effectively, 
privately, conforming to HIPAA, maintaining the veteran's privacy, and 
yet effectively ensure that that veteran gets the care that they have 
earned, that they need, that they deserve and that--thanks to this 
committee and its leadership--they are finally beginning to get. Those 
who are charged with ensuring that we coordinate care between the VA 
and private providers say that this is the most critical thing for us 
to do if we are to effectively share patient record information.
  It is estimated that today only about 3 percent of veterans 
proactively opt into this records sharing. That means that most of them 
are not getting the fully informed care that they would otherwise get.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in support of this bill, 
which would go a long way to ensuring that we do everything we can with 
the capacity both within the VA and outside the VA to deliver critical 
care to our veterans who are most in need.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in passing 
this legislation, H.R. 5162. I, once again, thank my colleague, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. O'Rourke) for his passionate advocacy for 
veterans.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, again, I urge all of my 
colleagues to support this important piece of legislation.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 5162.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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