| 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. 2234 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to update certain standards |
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| 6 | 6 | | regarding anesthesia and pain management services in the Veterans |
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| 7 | 7 | | Health Administration. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | MARCH18, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Ms. U |
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| 11 | 11 | | NDERWOOD(for herself and Mrs. KIGGANSof Virginia) introduced the |
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| 12 | 12 | | following 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 direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to update certain |
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| 15 | 15 | | standards regarding anesthesia and pain management |
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| 16 | 16 | | services in the Veterans Health Administration. |
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| 17 | 17 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 18 | 18 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 19 | 19 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 20 | 20 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring Veterans 4 |
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| 21 | 21 | | Timely Access to Anesthesia Care Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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| 22 | 22 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Mar 29, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2234.IH H2234 |
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| 23 | 23 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 24 | 24 | | •HR 2234 IH |
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| 25 | 25 | | SEC. 2. ALIGNMENT OF STANDARDS REGARDING CER-1 |
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| 26 | 26 | | TIFIED REGISTERED NURSE ANESTHETISTS 2 |
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| 27 | 27 | | IN THE VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION 3 |
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| 28 | 28 | | WITH STANDARDS OF THE DEFENSE HEALTH 4 |
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| 29 | 29 | | AGENCY. 5 |
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| 30 | 30 | | The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall update VHA 6 |
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| 31 | 31 | | Directive 1123 titled ‘‘National Anesthesia Program, De-7 |
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| 32 | 32 | | partment of Veterans Affairs Certified Registered Nurse 8 |
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| 33 | 33 | | Anesthetists Practice Guidelines’’ (or any successor direc-9 |
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| 34 | 34 | | tive) to recognize, in the Veterans Health Administration, 10 |
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| 35 | 35 | | certified registered nurses anesthetists as licensed inde-11 |
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| 36 | 36 | | pendent practitioners in a manner consistent with the 12 |
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| 37 | 37 | | practice standards described by section 3(f)(2) of Enclo-13 |
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| 38 | 38 | | sure of Defense Health Agency Administrative Instruction 14 |
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| 39 | 39 | | 6025.07, dated November 8, 2023, as amended. 15 |
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| 40 | 40 | | SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS OF ANESTHESIA PROVIDERS IN 16 |
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| 41 | 41 | | THE VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION. 17 |
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| 42 | 42 | | (a) C |
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| 43 | 43 | | ERTIFICATION.—The Secretary of Veterans Af-18 |
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| 44 | 44 | | fairs shall require an anesthesia professional employed by 19 |
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| 45 | 45 | | the Secretary as— 20 |
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| 46 | 46 | | (1) a physician anesthesiologist to be certified 21 |
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| 47 | 47 | | by the American Board of Anesthesiology or a simi-22 |
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| 48 | 48 | | lar body determined by the Secretary; and 23 |
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| 49 | 49 | | (2) a certified registered nurse anesthetist to be 24 |
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| 50 | 50 | | certified by the Council on Certification of Nurse 25 |
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| 51 | 51 | | Anesthetists or the Council on Recertification of 26 |
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| 52 | 52 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Mar 29, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2234.IH H2234 |
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| 53 | 53 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 |
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| 54 | 54 | | •HR 2234 IH |
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| 55 | 55 | | Nurse Anesthetists or a similar body determined by 1 |
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| 56 | 56 | | the Secretary. 2 |
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| 57 | 57 | | (b) D |
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| 58 | 58 | | IRECTCARE.—The Secretary shall require an 3 |
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| 59 | 59 | | anesthesia professional described in subsection (a) to have 4 |
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| 60 | 60 | | completed at least 25 hours of direct patient anesthesia 5 |
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| 61 | 61 | | care (not including supervision of other anesthesia profes-6 |
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| 62 | 62 | | sionals). 7 |
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| 63 | 63 | | (c) E |
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| 64 | 64 | | NFORCEMENT.—The Secretary shall suspend 8 |
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| 65 | 65 | | from employment in the Department of Veterans Affairs 9 |
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| 66 | 66 | | an anesthesia professional described in subsection (a) who 10 |
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| 67 | 67 | | has not complied with the requirements of this section. 11 |
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| 68 | 68 | | SEC. 4. GAO REPORT ON ANESTHESIA DELIVERY IN THE 12 |
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| 69 | 69 | | VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION. 13 |
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| 70 | 70 | | Not later than one year after the date of the enact-14 |
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| 71 | 71 | | ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Comptroller 15 |
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| 72 | 72 | | General of the United States shall submit to the Commit-16 |
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| 73 | 73 | | tees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives 17 |
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| 74 | 74 | | and the Senate a report that contains the following, and 18 |
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| 75 | 75 | | which shall be made publicly available: 19 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (1) Data regarding outcomes regarding the fol-20 |
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| 77 | 77 | | lowing anesthesia models used in the Veterans 21 |
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| 78 | 78 | | Health Administration: 22 |
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| 79 | 79 | | (A) Delivery by an anesthesiologist. 23 |
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| 80 | 80 | | (B) Delivery by a certified registered nurse 24 |
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| 81 | 81 | | anesthetist under the supervision of a physician. 25 |
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| 83 | 83 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 |
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| 84 | 84 | | •HR 2234 IH |
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| 85 | 85 | | (C) Delivery by a certified registered nurse 1 |
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| 86 | 86 | | anesthetist without supervision. 2 |
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| 87 | 87 | | (2) A comparison of the cost effectiveness of 3 |
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| 88 | 88 | | the models described in paragraph (1), including— 4 |
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| 89 | 89 | | (A) the estimated cost to medical facilities 5 |
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| 90 | 90 | | of the Department of Veterans Affairs and tax-6 |
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| 91 | 91 | | payers for each such model; and 7 |
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| 92 | 92 | | (B) a breakdown of costs and savings to 8 |
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| 93 | 93 | | taxpayers and to veterans’ households associ-9 |
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| 94 | 94 | | ated with each such model. 10 |
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| 95 | 95 | | Æ |
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| 96 | 96 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Mar 29, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2234.IH H2234 |
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| 97 | 97 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS |
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