Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2283 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. 2283
5	5	To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program
6	6	to provide grants to outpatient mental health facilities for the provision
7	7	of culturally competent, evidence-based mental health care for veterans,
8	8	and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	MARCH24, 2025
11	11	Mr. B
12	12	OSTintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
13	13	on Veterans’ Affairs
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out
16	16	a pilot program to provide grants to outpatient mental
17	17	health facilities for the provision of culturally competent,
18	18	evidence-based mental health care for veterans, and for
19	19	other purposes.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Recognizing Commu-4
24	24	nity Organizations for Veteran Engagement and Recovery 5
25	25	Act’’ of the ‘‘RECOVER Act’’. 6
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28	28	•HR 2283 IH
29	29	SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS PILOT PRO-1
30	30	GRAM TO PROVIDE GRANTS TO MEDICAL FA-2
31	31	CILITIES FOR THE PROVISION OF CUL-3
32	32	TURALLY COMPETENT, EVIDENCE-BASED 4
33	33	MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR VETERANS. 5
34	34	(a) E
35	35	STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Veterans 6
36	36	Affairs shall carry out a three-year pilot program under 7
37	37	which the Secretary shall make grants to eligible mental 8
38	38	health care providers for the provision of culturally com-9
39	39	petent, evidence-based mental health care for veterans. 10
40	40	(b) E
41	41	LIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant 11
42	42	under the pilot program, a mental health care provider 12
43	43	shall— 13
44	44	(1) be a non-profit organization; 14
45	45	(2) have operated at least one outpatient men-15
46	46	tal health facility in the United States for a contin-16
47	47	uous period of at least three years; and 17
48	48	(3) submit to the Secretary an application that 18
49	49	includes such information and assurances as the 19
50	50	Secretary may require, including— 20
51	51	(A) an identification of the outpatient fa-21
52	52	cility or facilities where the provider will provide 22
53	53	mental health care to veterans using the grant 23
54	54	funds; 24
55	55	(B) a plan under which at least one clini-25
56	56	cian employed by the provider at each facility 26
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59	59	•HR 2283 IH
60	60	for which a grant is made is trained to provide 1
61	61	culturally competent veterans mental health 2
62	62	care pursuant to the requirements established 3
63	63	by the Secretary under subsection (f); and 4
64	64	(C) an identification of the percentage of 5
65	65	the operating budget for each such facility that 6
66	66	was provided through Federal grants during the 7
67	67	fiscal year preceding the year during which the 8
68	68	application is submitted. 9
69	69	(c) U
70	70	SE OFFUNDS.— 10
71	71	(1) I
72	72	N GENERAL.—The recipient of a grant 11
73	73	under the pilot program shall use the grant— 12
74	74	(A) to provide culturally competent, evi-13
75	75	dence-based mental health care for veterans; 14
76	76	(B) to operate an existing outpatient men-15
77	77	tal health facility or establish a new outpatient 16
78	78	mental health facility for the purpose of pro-17
79	79	viding such care; and 18
80	80	(C) to encourage veterans who are eligible 19
81	81	for enrollment in the patient enrollment system 20
82	82	under section 1705 of title 38, United States 21
83	83	Code, to enroll in such system and to receive 22
84	84	medical services furnished by the Department 23
85	85	of Veterans Affairs. 24
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88	88	•HR 2283 IH
89	89	(2) LIMITATIONS.—The recipient of a grant 1
90	90	under the pilot program may not— 2
91	91	(A) charge any veteran a fee associated 3
92	92	with the receipt of mental health care; or 4
93	93	(B) refuse to provide mental health care to 5
94	94	any veteran on the basis that the veteran is not 6
95	95	eligible for reimbursement for such care under 7
96	96	a health plan contract or any Federal, State, or 8
97	97	local government program. 9
98	98	(3) R
99	99	EIMBURSEMENT.—Nothing in this sub-10
100	100	section shall prevent the recipient of a grant under 11
101	101	the pilot program from seeking or receiving reim-12
102	102	bursement for all, or a portion, of the mental health 13
103	103	care provided to a veteran, including reimbursement 14
104	104	under a health plan contract, the Community Care 15
105	105	Program of the Department under section 1703 of 16
106	106	title 38, United States Care, or any other Federal, 17
107	107	State, or local government program. 18
108	108	(d) S
109	109	ELECTION OF FACILITIES.—In selecting out-19
110	110	patient mental health facilities for the receipt of grants 20
111	111	under the pilot program, the Secretary— 21
112	112	(1) shall ensure that grants are distributed 22
113	113	evenly among outpatient mental health facilities lo-23
114	114	cated in rural and urban areas; 24
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117	117	•HR 2283 IH
118	118	(2) may consider the proportion of veterans his-1
119	119	torically served by the outpatient mental health fa-2
120	120	cilities; and 3
121	121	(3) may prioritize outpatient mental health fa-4
122	122	cilities located in areas that the Secretary deter-5
123	123	mines— 6
124	124	(A) are medically underserved; 7
125	125	(B) have large veteran populations; 8
126	126	(C) are located near military installations; 9
127	127	or 10
128	128	(D) have large numbers of veterans at high 11
129	129	risk of suicide. 12
130	130	(e) A
131	131	MOUNT OFGRANT.— 13
132	132	(1) I
133	133	N GENERAL.— 14
134	134	(A) I
135	135	N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 15
136	136	subparagraph (B), no grant under the pilot pro-16
137	137	gram for a facility for any fiscal year may ex-17
138	138	ceed $1,500,000. 18
139	139	(B) L
140	140	IMITATION.—In the case of an out-19
141	141	patient mental health facility for which at least 20
142	142	50 percent of the operating budget of the facil-21
143	143	ity for the preceding fiscal year was provided 22
144	144	through Federal grants, no grant under the 23
145	145	pilot program for the facility for any fiscal year 24
146	146	may exceed the lesser of— 25
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149	149	•HR 2283 IH
150	150	(i) 50 percent of the operating budget 1
151	151	of the facility; or 2
152	152	(ii) $1,500,000. 3
153	153	(2) M
154	154	ULTIPLE GRANTS.—The recipient of a 4
155	155	grant under the pilot program— 5
156	156	(A) may apply for, and receive, grants for 6
157	157	more than one facility of the recipient for any 7
158	158	fiscal year; and 8
159	159	(B) may apply for, and receive, a grant for 9
160	160	a facility that has already received a grant 10
161	161	under the pilot program. 11
162	162	(f) T
163	163	RAININGREQUIREMENT.—The Secretary shall 12
164	164	establish the requirements for the training referred to in 13
165	165	subsection (b)(2)(A). 14
166	166	(g) R
167	167	EGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall prescribe 15
168	168	regulations to carry out this section, which shall include 16
169	169	a requirement that each recipient of a grant under the 17
170	170	pilot program shall— 18
171	171	(1) demonstrate the capacity to provide ac-19
172	172	countability; 20
173	173	(2) demonstrate clinical outcomes; and 21
174	174	(3) justify the effective use of any private in-22
175	175	vestment funds or Federal grant funds through data 23
176	176	collection and reporting metrics. 24
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179	179	•HR 2283 IH
180	180	(h) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the com-1
181	181	pletion of the pilot program under this section, the Sec-2
182	182	retary shall submit to Congress a report on the pilot pro-3
183	183	gram that includes the following: 4
184	184	(1) The number of veterans who received men-5
185	185	tal health care under the program. 6
186	186	(2) The demographics of the veterans served. 7
187	187	(3) An identification of the types of mental 8
188	188	health care provided and the time period for which 9
189	189	such care was provided. 10
190	190	(4) An identification of program outcomes. 11
191	191	(5) The number of veterans who received men-12
192	192	tal health care under the program and subsequently 13
193	193	enrolled in the patient enrollment system under sec-14
194	194	tion 1705 of title 38, United States Code. 15
195	195	(6) An identification of any obstacles faced by 16
196	196	grant recipients in providing mental health care 17
197	197	under the program. 18
198	198	(i) A
199	199	UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 19
200	200	authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 20
201	201	out the pilot program under this section $20,000,000 for 21
202	202	each of fiscal years 2025 through 2027. 22
203	203	Æ
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