Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1860 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1860
5	5	To designate Regional Breast and Gynecologic Cancer Care Coordinators
6	6	to expand the work of the Breast and Gynecologic Oncology System
7	7	of Excellence at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other
8	8	purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	MARCH5, 2025
11	11	Ms. G
12	12	ARCIAof Texas (for herself and Ms. BROWNLEY) introduced the
13	13	following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To designate Regional Breast and Gynecologic Cancer Care
16	16	Coordinators to expand the work of the Breast and
17	17	Gynecologic Oncology System of Excellence at the De-
18	18	partment of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
19	19	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
20	20	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
21	21	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
22	22	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Women Veterans Can-4
23	23	cer Care Coordination Act’’. 5
24	24	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1860.IH H1860
25	25	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
26	26	•HR 1860 IH
27	27	SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS REGIONAL 1
28	28	BREAST CANCER AND GYNECOLOGIC CAN-2
29	29	CER CARE COORDINATORS. 3
30	30	(a) E
31	31	STABLISHMENT.—Not later than one year after 4
32	32	the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 5
33	33	Veterans Affairs shall hire or designate a Regional Breast 6
34	34	Cancer and Gynecologic Cancer Care Coordinator at each 7
35	35	Veteran Integrated Services Network (hereinafter in this 8
36	36	section referred to as ‘‘VISN’’). Each Care Coordinator 9
37	37	hired or designated under this subsection shall report di-10
38	38	rectly to the Director of the Breast and Gynecologic On-11
39	39	cology System of Excellence (hereinafter in this section re-12
40	40	ferred to as the ‘‘BGOSoE’’). 13
41	41	(b) E
42	42	LIGIBLEVETERANS.—A veteran is eligible to re-14
43	43	ceive care coordination provided by a Care Coordinator 15
44	44	hired or designated under subsection (a) if the veteran— 16
45	45	(1) is diagnosed with a breast or gynecologic 17
46	46	cancer, or has been identified as having a 18
47	47	precancerous breast or gynecologic condition; and 19
48	48	(2) is eligible for health care furnished through 20
49	49	the Veterans Community Care Program under sec-21
50	50	tion 1703 of title 38, United States Code, at a non- 22
51	51	Department facility. 23
52	52	(c) L
53	53	OCATIONS.—The Secretary shall establish re-24
54	54	gions for purposes of care coordination provided by Re-25
55	55	gional Breast Cancer and Gynecologic Cancer Care Coor-26
56	56	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1860.IH H1860
57	57	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
58	58	•HR 1860 IH
59	59	dinators hired or designated under subsection (a). In es-1
60	60	tablishing such regions, the Secretary shall— 2
61	61	(1) assign all Department facilities to an appro-3
62	62	priate region under the supervision of the BGOSoE 4
63	63	Director and a designated Regional Breast and 5
64	64	Gynecologic Cancer Care Coordinator; and 6
65	65	(2) take into account existing VISNs and the 7
66	66	specific needs of veterans in each region, including 8
67	67	veterans living in rural communities. 9
68	68	(d) D
69	69	UTIES OFREGIONALBREAST ANDGYNECO-10
70	70	LOGICALCANCERCARECOORDINATORS.—The Regional 11
71	71	Breast Cancer and Gynecologic Cancer Care Coordinator 12
72	72	hired or designated under subsection (a) shall be respon-13
73	73	sible for carrying out the following duties: 14
74	74	(1) Ensuring the coordination of care between 15
75	75	clinicians of the Department and breast and 16
76	76	gynecologic cancer community care providers. 17
77	77	(2) Working with the Office of Community Care 18
78	78	of the relevant medical facility of the Department re-19
79	79	garding care furnished under such section. 20
80	80	(3) Making regular contact with each veteran 21
81	81	based on the veteran’s specific medical needs when 22
82	82	the veteran receives care from a community care 23
83	83	provider. 24
84	84	(4) Monitoring— 25
85	85	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1860.IH H1860
86	86	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
87	87	•HR 1860 IH
88	88	(A) the services furnished to veterans by 1
89	89	the Department and community care providers; 2
90	90	(B) the health outcomes of veterans with 3
91	91	respect to a cancer diagnosis, including remis-4
92	92	sion, metastasis, and death; and 5
93	93	(C) the data relating to breast and 6
94	94	gynecologic cancer care (using relevant data-7
95	95	bases of the Veterans Health Administration or 8
96	96	other Department databases), including— 9
97	97	(i) the demographics of veterans who 10
98	98	have breast or gynecologic cancer; and 11
99	99	(ii) the number of veterans being 12
100	100	treated for breast or gynecologic cancer. 13
101	101	(5) Providing particular information to veterans 14
102	102	with breast or gynecologic cancer, including— 15
103	103	(A) how to seek emergency care at the 16
104	104	emergency department closest to the residence 17
105	105	of the veteran, including that it is generally ad-18
106	106	visable for veterans to notify the Department of 19
107	107	emergency care received at a non-Department 20
108	108	facility within 72 hours of receiving care to fa-21
109	109	cilitate the authorization of payments for such 22
110	110	emergency treatment; and 23
111	111	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1860.IH H1860
112	112	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
113	113	•HR 1860 IH
114	114	(B) information about mental health re-1
115	115	sources, including with respect to information 2
116	116	encouraging follow-up care for depression. 3
117	117	(6) Documenting certain information on vet-4
118	118	erans receiving care for breast or gynecologic care in 5
119	119	the electronic health records of the Department, in-6
120	120	cluding— 7
121	121	(A) the documentation of the contact de-8
122	122	scribed in paragraph (3); 9
123	123	(B) the contact information of the breast 10
124	124	or gynecologic cancer care community care pro-11
125	125	viders of such veterans; and 12
126	126	(C) the breast or gynecologic cancer diag-13
127	127	nosis of veterans. 14
128	128	(7) Carrying out such other duties as may be 15
129	129	determined appropriate by the Secretary. 16
130	130	(e) R
131	131	EPORT.—Not later than three years after the 17
132	132	date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall sub-18
133	133	mit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate 19
134	134	and the House of Representatives a report containing the 20
135	135	following: 21
136	136	(1) A comparison of the health outcomes of vet-22
137	137	erans who received cancer care at a Department fa-23
138	138	cility and those who received care furnished by non- 24
139	139	Department medical providers pursuant to section 25
140	140	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1860.IH H1860
141	141	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
142	142	•HR 1860 IH
143	143	1703 of title 38, United States Code, include with 1
144	144	respect to the following: 2
145	145	(A) Treatment and types of health out-3
146	146	comes, including (for the most recent three 4
147	147	years of available data)— 5
148	148	(i) the number of veterans who were 6
149	149	diagnosed with a breast or gynecologic can-7
150	150	cer, or precancerous breast or gynecologic 8
151	151	condition; 9
152	152	(ii) the percentage of such veterans 10
153	153	who have experienced a cancer-related 11
154	154	death; and 12
155	155	(iii) the percentage of such veterans 13
156	156	who have entered remission for gynecologic 14
157	157	cancer. 15
158	158	(B) Timeliness of care furnished under 16
159	159	chapter 17 of title 38, United States Code, in-17
160	160	cluding how quickly initial post-diagnosis ap-18
161	161	pointments and appointments to develop a 19
162	162	treatment plan are scheduled and provided. 20
163	163	(C) Patient safety associated with such 21
164	164	care at Department facilities or community care 22
165	165	providers, including the number of errors in 23
166	166	medical care that rise to the level of ‘‘never 24
167	167	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1860.IH H1860
168	168	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
169	169	•HR 1860 IH
170	170	events’’ (such as a foreign body left in a veteran 1
171	171	during surgery). 2
172	172	(2) An evaluation of what changes or additional 3
173	173	resources are needed to further improve breast and 4
174	174	gynecologic cancer care and coordination. 5
175	175	(3) Any other matter the Secretary determines 6
176	176	appropriate. 7
177	177	(f) D
178	178	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
179	179	(1) The term ‘‘community care provider’’ means 9
180	180	a health care provider described in section 1703(c) 10
181	181	of title 38, United States Code, who has entered into 11
182	182	a contract or agreement to furnish hospital care, 12
183	183	medical services, or extended care services (other 13
184	184	than care related to breast and gynecologic cancer) 14
185	185	to veterans under section 1703 of title 38, United 15
186	186	States Code. 16
187	187	(2) The term ‘‘breast and gynecologic cancer 17
188	188	community care provider’’ means a breast or 18
189	189	gynecologic cancer care provider described in section 19
190	190	1703(c) of title 38, United States Code, who has en-20
191	191	tered into a contract or agreement to furnish hos-21
192	192	pital care, medical services, or extended care services 22
193	193	to provide care related to breast or gynecologic can-23
194	194	cer to veterans under section 1703 of title 38F, 24
195	195	United States Code. 25
196	196	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1860.IH H1860
197	197	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
198	198	•HR 1860 IH
199	199	(3) The term ‘‘breast cancer’’ has the meaning 1
200	200	given such term by the Director of the Breast and 2
201	201	Gynecologic Oncology System of Excellence. 3
202	202	(4) The term ‘‘gynecologic cancer’’ means cer-4
203	203	vical cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, vaginal 5
204	204	cancer, vulvar cancer, and gestational trophoblastic 6
205	205	neoplasia. 7
206	206	(5) The term ‘‘non-Department facility’’ has 8
207	207	the meaning given that term in section 1701 of title 9
208	208	38, United States Code. 10
209	209	Æ
210	210	VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:58 Mar 19, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1860.IH H1860
211	211	ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS