Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB2745 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 2745
5	5	To amend title 38, United States Code, to eliminate conflicts of interest
6	6	in conduct of quality management and administrative investigations by
7	7	the Veterans Health Administration and to limit the detail of directors
8	8	of medical centers of Department of Veterans Affairs to different posi-
9	9	tions, and for other purposes.
10	10	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
11	11	SEPTEMBER7, 2023
12	12	Mr. P
13	13	ETERS(for himself and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the following bill;
14	14	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To amend title 38, United States Code, to eliminate conflicts
17	17	of interest in conduct of quality management and admin-
18	18	istrative investigations by the Veterans Health Adminis-
19	19	tration and to limit the detail of directors of medical
20	20	centers of Department of Veterans Affairs to different
21	21	positions, and for other purposes.
22	22	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
23	23	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
24	24	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
25	25	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Affairs Peer 4
26	26	Review Neutrality Act of 2023’’. 5
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30	30	SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST IN PEER 1
31	31	REVIEW, ADMINISTRATIVE INVESTIGATION 2
32	32	BOARDS, AND FACTFINDINGS OF VETERANS 3
33	33	HEALTH ADMINISTRATION. 4
34	34	(a) I
35	35	NGENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 73 of 5
36	36	title 38, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 6
37	37	section 7311A the following new section: 7
38	38	‘‘§ 7311B. Elimination of conflicts of interest in peer 8
39	39	review, administrative investigation 9
40	40	boards, and factfindings of Veterans 10
41	41	Health Administration 11
42	42	‘‘(a) P
43	43	EERREVIEW.— 12
44	44	‘‘(1) I
45	45	N GENERAL.—Each individual responsible 13
46	46	for conducting peer review for quality management 14
47	47	of care provided by a health care provider at a med-15
48	48	ical facility of the Department and each member of 16
49	49	a peer review committee with respect to quality man-17
50	50	agement of such care shall withdraw from participa-18
51	51	tion in a case review if— 19
52	52	‘‘(A) the individual has direct involvement 20
53	53	with the care under review; or 21
54	54	‘‘(B) the individual is unable to conduct an 22
55	55	objective, impartial, accurate, and informed re-23
56	56	view. 24
57	57	‘‘(2) N
58	58	EUTRAL ASSESSMENT OF CONDUCT OF 25
59	59	COMMITTEE MEMBERS .—Each medical facility of the 26
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63	63	Department shall develop procedures and guidelines 1
64	64	for that facility to require that any initial peer re-2
65	65	view for quality management that is conducted with 3
66	66	respect to care provided by a health care provider 4
67	67	who is a member of the peer review committee for 5
68	68	that facility be evaluated, discussed, and assigned a 6
69	69	final level review by a neutral peer review committee 7
70	70	at another facility of the Department. 8
71	71	‘‘(b) A
72	72	DMINISTRATIVEINVESTIGATIONBOARDS AND 9
73	73	F
74	74	ACTFINDINGS.— 10
75	75	‘‘(1) K
76	76	NOWLEDGE OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMA -11
77	77	TION.—Individuals with knowledge of confidential 12
78	78	quality assurance information specific to a matter 13
79	79	under investigation by an administrative investiga-14
80	80	tion board or factfinder with respect to quality man-15
81	81	agement of care provided by a health care provider 16
82	82	at a medical facility of the Department may not— 17
83	83	‘‘(A) serve on the administrative investiga-18
84	84	tion board or as a factfinder; or 19
85	85	‘‘(B) disclose such information to an ad-20
86	86	ministrative investigation board or a factfinder. 21
87	87	‘‘(2) P
88	88	ERSONAL INTEREST , INVOLVEMENT, OR 22
89	89	RELATIONSHIP.— 23
90	90	‘‘(A) I
91	91	N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 24
92	92	ensure that each member of an administrative 25
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96	96	investigative board or factfinder does not 1
97	97	have— 2
98	98	‘‘(i) any personal interest or other 3
99	99	bias concerning the investigation being 4
100	100	conducted; 5
101	101	‘‘(ii) direct involvement in matters 6
102	102	being investigated; or 7
103	103	‘‘(iii) a supervisory or personal rela-8
104	104	tionship with the subject of the investiga-9
105	105	tion. 10
106	106	‘‘(B) R
107	107	ECUSAL.—If a potential member of 11
108	108	an administrative investigative board or 12
109	109	factfinder has a personal interest or other bias 13
110	110	concerning the investigation being conducted, 14
111	111	direct involvement in matters being inves-15
112	112	tigated, or a supervisory or personal relation-16
113	113	ship with the subject of the investigation, the 17
114	114	potential member shall inform the authority re-18
115	115	sponsible for the investigation and recuse them-19
116	116	selves from such matter.’’. 20
117	117	(b) C
118	118	LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 21
119	119	at the beginning of such subchapter is amended by insert-22
120	120	ing after the item relating to section 7311A the following 23
121	121	new item: 24
122	122	‘‘7311B. Elimination of conflicts of interest in peer review, administrative inves-
123	123	tigation boards, and factfindings of Veterans Health Adminis-
124	124	tration.’’.
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128	128	SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON DETAIL OF DIRECTORS OF MED-1
129	129	ICAL CENTERS OF DEPARTMENT OF VET-2
130	130	ERANS AFFAIRS TO DIFFERENT POSITIONS. 3
131	131	(a) N
132	132	OTIFICATION.— 4
133	133	(1) I
134	134	N GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 5
135	135	detailing a director of a medical center of the De-6
136	136	partment of Veterans Affairs to a different position 7
137	137	within the Department, the Secretary of Veterans 8
138	138	Affairs shall notify the Committee on Veterans’ Af-9
139	139	fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ 10
140	140	Affairs of the House of Representatives of such de-11
141	141	tail. 12
142	142	(2) M
143	143	ATTERS TO BE INCLUDED .—The notifica-13
144	144	tion required by paragraph (1) shall include, with re-14
145	145	spect to a director of a medical center who is de-15
146	146	tailed to a different position within the Department, 16
147	147	the following information: 17
148	148	(A) The location at which the director is 18
149	149	detailed. 19
150	150	(B) The position title of the detail. 20
151	151	(C) The estimated time the director is ex-21
152	152	pected to be absent from their duties at the 22
153	153	medical center. 23
154	154	(D) Such other information as the Sec-24
155	155	retary may determine appropriate. 25
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159	159	(b) APPOINTMENT OFACTINGDIRECTOR.—Not later 1
160	160	than 120 days after detailing a director of a medical cen-2
161	161	ter of the Department to a different position within the 3
162	162	Department, the Secretary shall appoint an individual as 4
163	163	acting director of such medical center with all of the au-5
164	164	thority and responsibilities of the detailed director. 6
165	165	(c) U
166	166	PDATE ONDETAIL.—Not later than 120 days 7
167	167	after detailing a director of a medical center of the De-8
168	168	partment to a different position within the Department, 9
169	169	and not less frequently than every 30 days thereafter while 10
170	170	the detail is in effect or while the director position at the 11
171	171	medical center is vacant, the Secretary shall submit to the 12
172	172	Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the 13
173	173	Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep-14
174	174	resentatives an update regarding the status of the detail. 15
175	175	(d) R
176	176	ETURN TOPOSITION ORREASSIGNMENT.— 16
177	177	(1) I
178	178	N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-17
179	179	graph (2), not later than 180 days after detailing a 18
180	180	director of a medical center of the Department to a 19
181	181	different position within the Department, for a rea-20
182	182	son other than an ongoing investigation or adminis-21
183	183	trative action with respect to the director, the Sec-22
184	184	retary shall— 23
185	185	(A) return the individual to the position as 24
186	186	director of the medical center; or 25
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190	190	(B) reassign the individual from the posi-1
191	191	tion as director of the medical center and begin 2
192	192	the process of hiring a new director for such po-3
193	193	sition. 4
194	194	(2) W
195	195	AIVER.— 5
196	196	(A) I
197	197	N GENERAL.—The Secretary may 6
198	198	waive the requirement under paragraph (1) 7
199	199	with respect to an individual for successive 90- 8
200	200	day increments for a total period of not more 9
201	201	than 540 days from the original date the indi-10
202	202	vidual was detailed away from their position as 11
203	203	director of a medical center. 12
204	204	(B) N
205	205	OTIFICATION.—Not later than 30 13
206	206	days after exercising a waiver under subpara-14
207	207	graph (A), the Secretary shall notify Congress 15
208	208	of the waiver and provide to Congress informa-16
209	209	tion as to why the waiver is necessary. 17
210	210	Æ
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