| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 1290 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program |
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| 6 | 6 | | under which the Department of Veterans Affairs refers veterans experi- |
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| 7 | 7 | | encing mental health crises to approved non-Department mental health |
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| 8 | 8 | | care providers, and for other purposes. |
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| 9 | 9 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 10 | 10 | | FEBRUARY13, 2025 |
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| 11 | 11 | | Mr. B |
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| 12 | 12 | | UCHANAN(for himself and Mr. MURPHY) introduced the following bill; |
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| 13 | 13 | | which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs |
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| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
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| 15 | 15 | | To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out |
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| 16 | 16 | | a pilot program under which the Department of Veterans |
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| 17 | 17 | | Affairs refers veterans experiencing mental health crises |
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| 18 | 18 | | to approved non-Department mental health care pro- |
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| 19 | 19 | | viders, and for other purposes. |
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| 20 | 20 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 21 | 21 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 22 | 22 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 23 | 23 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Mental 4 |
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| 24 | 24 | | Health Crisis Referral Enhancement Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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| 25 | 25 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:33 Mar 11, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1290.IH H1290 |
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| 26 | 26 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 27 | 27 | | •HR 1290 IH |
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| 28 | 28 | | SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS PILOT PRO-1 |
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| 29 | 29 | | GRAM ON MENTAL HEALTH REFERRALS. 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | (a) P |
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| 31 | 31 | | ILOTPROGRAM.—Beginning not later than 180 3 |
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| 32 | 32 | | days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-4 |
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| 33 | 33 | | retary of Veterans Affairs shall carry out a three-year pilot 5 |
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| 34 | 34 | | program under which Vet Centers and medical facilities 6 |
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| 35 | 35 | | of the Department provide veterans experiencing mental 7 |
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| 36 | 36 | | health crises with referrals to non-Department mental 8 |
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| 37 | 37 | | health care providers approved by the Secretary. 9 |
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| 38 | 38 | | (b) L |
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| 39 | 39 | | OCATIONS.—The Secretary shall select at least 10 |
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| 40 | 40 | | three geographic locations at which to carry out the pilot 11 |
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| 41 | 41 | | program required under subsection (a). 12 |
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| 42 | 42 | | (c) R |
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| 43 | 43 | | EQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the pilot pro-13 |
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| 44 | 44 | | gram under subsection (a), the Secretary shall— 14 |
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| 45 | 45 | | (1) develop and maintain a referral system to 15 |
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| 46 | 46 | | connect veterans experiencing mental health crises 16 |
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| 47 | 47 | | with non-Department mental health care providers 17 |
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| 48 | 48 | | within one week; 18 |
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| 49 | 49 | | (2) develop criteria for the approval of non-De-19 |
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| 50 | 50 | | partment mental health care providers for purposes 20 |
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| 51 | 51 | | of referrals under the program; 21 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (3) hire any additional employees required to 22 |
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| 53 | 53 | | facilitate referrals under the system; and 23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | (4) provide appropriate training to employees of 24 |
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| 55 | 55 | | Vet Centers and medical facilities of the Department 25 |
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| 56 | 56 | | on the referral system. 26 |
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| 58 | 58 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 59 | 59 | | •HR 1290 IH |
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| 60 | 60 | | (d) REPORTS.— 1 |
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| 61 | 61 | | (1) A |
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| 62 | 62 | | NNUAL REPORTS .—Not later than six 2 |
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| 63 | 63 | | months after the last day of each year during which 3 |
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| 64 | 64 | | the Secretary carries out the pilot program under 4 |
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| 65 | 65 | | subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to Con-5 |
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| 66 | 66 | | gress a report on the implementation and outcomes 6 |
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| 67 | 67 | | of the pilot program. Each such report shall include 7 |
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| 68 | 68 | | the following for the year covered by the report: 8 |
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| 69 | 69 | | (A) The number of veterans referred to 9 |
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| 70 | 70 | | non-Department mental health care providers 10 |
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| 71 | 71 | | under the pilot program. 11 |
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| 72 | 72 | | (B) The average wait time for a veteran to 12 |
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| 73 | 73 | | receive mental health care after receiving a re-13 |
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| 74 | 74 | | ferral under the pilot program. 14 |
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| 75 | 75 | | (C) An evaluation of veteran satisfaction 15 |
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| 76 | 76 | | with the mental health care received through 16 |
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| 77 | 77 | | the referral system. 17 |
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| 78 | 78 | | (2) F |
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| 79 | 79 | | INAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 18 |
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| 80 | 80 | | after the conclusion of the pilot program, the Sec-19 |
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| 81 | 81 | | retary shall submit to Congress a final report con-20 |
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| 82 | 82 | | taining an evaluation of the effectiveness of the pro-21 |
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| 83 | 83 | | gram and the recommendations of the Secretary 22 |
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| 84 | 84 | | with respect to expanding or modifying the referral 23 |
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| 85 | 85 | | system developed under the program. 24 |
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| 87 | 87 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
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| 88 | 88 | | •HR 1290 IH |
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| 89 | 89 | | (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 1 |
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| 90 | 90 | | authorized to be appropriated to carry out the pilot pro-2 |
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| 91 | 91 | | gram required under subsection (a) $3,000,000 for each 3 |
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| 92 | 92 | | of fiscal years 2025 through 2027. 4 |
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| 93 | 93 | | Æ |
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| 95 | 95 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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