| 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. 2068 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the assignment of patient |
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| 6 | 6 | | advocates at medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs, |
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| 7 | 7 | | and for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | MARCH11, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. M |
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| 11 | 11 | | OOLENAAR(for himself and Mrs. DINGELL) introduced the following |
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| 12 | 12 | | bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the |
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| 15 | 15 | | assignment of patient advocates at medical facilities of |
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| 16 | 16 | | the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other pur- |
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| 17 | 17 | | poses. |
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| 18 | 18 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 19 | 19 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 20 | 20 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 21 | 21 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Patient Advo-4 |
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| 22 | 22 | | cacy Act’’. 5 |
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| 23 | 23 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:58 Mar 24, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2068.IH H2068 |
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| 24 | 24 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 25 | 25 | | •HR 2068 IH |
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| 26 | 26 | | SEC. 2. ACCESS FOR RURAL VETERANS TO PATIENT ADVO-1 |
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| 27 | 27 | | CATES AT MEDICAL FACILITIES OF DEPART-2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 3 |
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| 29 | 29 | | (a) I |
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| 30 | 30 | | NGENERAL.—Section 7309A of title 38, United 4 |
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| 31 | 31 | | States Code, is amended— 5 |
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| 32 | 32 | | (1) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as 6 |
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| 33 | 33 | | subsections (f) and (g), respectively; and 7 |
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| 34 | 34 | | (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-8 |
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| 35 | 35 | | lowing new subsection (e): 9 |
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| 36 | 36 | | ‘‘(e) A |
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| 37 | 37 | | CCESS TOPATIENTADVOCATES FOR RURAL 10 |
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| 38 | 38 | | V |
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| 39 | 39 | | ETERANS.—The Director shall ensure that rural vet-11 |
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| 40 | 40 | | erans may access the services of patient advocates, includ-12 |
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| 41 | 41 | | ing, to the extent practicable, with respect to assigning 13 |
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| 42 | 42 | | patient advocates to rural community-based outpatient 14 |
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| 43 | 43 | | clinics.’’. 15 |
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| 44 | 44 | | (b) I |
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| 45 | 45 | | MPLEMENTATION DATE.—The Secretary of Vet-16 |
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| 46 | 46 | | erans Affairs shall ensure that subsection (e) of such sec-17 |
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| 47 | 47 | | tion, as amended by this section, is implemented not later 18 |
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| 48 | 48 | | than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 19 |
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| 49 | 49 | | (c) GAO R |
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| 50 | 50 | | EPORT.—Not later than two years after 20 |
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| 51 | 51 | | the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 21 |
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| 52 | 52 | | General of the United States shall submit to the Commit-22 |
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| 53 | 53 | | tees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives 23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | and the Senate a report evaluating the implementation 24 |
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| 55 | 55 | | under subsection (b). 25 |
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| 56 | 56 | | Æ |
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| 57 | 57 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:58 Mar 24, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2068.IH H2068 |
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| 58 | 58 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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