I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2068
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the assignment of patient
advocates at medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH11, 2025
Mr. M
OOLENAAR(for himself and Mrs. DINGELL) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the
assignment of patient advocates at medical facilities of
the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Patient Advo-4
cacy Act’’. 5
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•HR 2068 IH
SEC. 2. ACCESS FOR RURAL VETERANS TO PATIENT ADVO-1
CATES AT MEDICAL FACILITIES OF DEPART-2
MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 7309A of title 38, United 4
States Code, is amended— 5
(1) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as 6
subsections (f) and (g), respectively; and 7
(2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-8
lowing new subsection (e): 9
‘‘(e) A
CCESS TOPATIENTADVOCATES FOR RURAL 10
V
ETERANS.—The Director shall ensure that rural vet-11
erans may access the services of patient advocates, includ-12
ing, to the extent practicable, with respect to assigning 13
patient advocates to rural community-based outpatient 14
clinics.’’. 15
(b) I
MPLEMENTATION DATE.—The Secretary of Vet-16
erans Affairs shall ensure that subsection (e) of such sec-17
tion, as amended by this section, is implemented not later 18
than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 19
(c) GAO R
EPORT.—Not later than two years after 20
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 21
General of the United States shall submit to the Commit-22
tees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives 23
and the Senate a report evaluating the implementation 24
under subsection (b). 25
Æ
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