I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2234
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to update certain standards
regarding anesthesia and pain management services in the Veterans
Health Administration.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH18, 2025
Ms. U
NDERWOOD(for herself and Mrs. KIGGANSof Virginia) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to update certain
standards regarding anesthesia and pain management
services in the Veterans Health Administration.
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 ‘‘Ensuring Veterans 4
Timely Access to Anesthesia Care Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. ALIGNMENT OF STANDARDS REGARDING CER-1
TIFIED REGISTERED NURSE ANESTHETISTS 2
IN THE VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION 3
WITH STANDARDS OF THE DEFENSE HEALTH 4
AGENCY. 5
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall update VHA 6
Directive 1123 titled ‘‘National Anesthesia Program, De-7
partment of Veterans Affairs Certified Registered Nurse 8
Anesthetists Practice Guidelines’’ (or any successor direc-9
tive) to recognize, in the Veterans Health Administration, 10
certified registered nurses anesthetists as licensed inde-11
pendent practitioners in a manner consistent with the 12
practice standards described by section 3(f)(2) of Enclo-13
sure of Defense Health Agency Administrative Instruction 14
6025.07, dated November 8, 2023, as amended. 15
SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS OF ANESTHESIA PROVIDERS IN 16
THE VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION. 17
(a) C
ERTIFICATION.—The Secretary of Veterans Af-18
fairs shall require an anesthesia professional employed by 19
the Secretary as— 20
(1) a physician anesthesiologist to be certified 21
by the American Board of Anesthesiology or a simi-22
lar body determined by the Secretary; and 23
(2) a certified registered nurse anesthetist to be 24
certified by the Council on Certification of Nurse 25
Anesthetists or the Council on Recertification of 26
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Nurse Anesthetists or a similar body determined by 1
the Secretary. 2
(b) D
IRECTCARE.—The Secretary shall require an 3
anesthesia professional described in subsection (a) to have 4
completed at least 25 hours of direct patient anesthesia 5
care (not including supervision of other anesthesia profes-6
sionals). 7
(c) E
NFORCEMENT.—The Secretary shall suspend 8
from employment in the Department of Veterans Affairs 9
an anesthesia professional described in subsection (a) who 10
has not complied with the requirements of this section. 11
SEC. 4. GAO REPORT ON ANESTHESIA DELIVERY IN THE 12
VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION. 13
Not later than one year after the date of the enact-14
ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Comptroller 15
General of the United States shall submit to the Commit-16
tees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives 17
and the Senate a report that contains the following, and 18
which shall be made publicly available: 19
(1) Data regarding outcomes regarding the fol-20
lowing anesthesia models used in the Veterans 21
Health Administration: 22
(A) Delivery by an anesthesiologist. 23
(B) Delivery by a certified registered nurse 24
anesthetist under the supervision of a physician. 25
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(C) Delivery by a certified registered nurse 1
anesthetist without supervision. 2
(2) A comparison of the cost effectiveness of 3
the models described in paragraph (1), including— 4
(A) the estimated cost to medical facilities 5
of the Department of Veterans Affairs and tax-6
payers for each such model; and 7
(B) a breakdown of costs and savings to 8
taxpayers and to veterans’ households associ-9
ated with each such model. 10
Æ
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