I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2283
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program
to provide grants to outpatient mental health facilities for the provision
of culturally competent, evidence-based mental health care for veterans,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH24, 2025
Mr. B
OSTintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out
a pilot program to provide grants to outpatient mental
health facilities for the provision of culturally competent,
evidence-based mental health care for veterans, and for
other purposes.
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 ‘‘Recognizing Commu-4
nity Organizations for Veteran Engagement and Recovery 5
Act’’ of the ‘‘RECOVER Act’’. 6
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•HR 2283 IH
SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS PILOT PRO-1
GRAM TO PROVIDE GRANTS TO MEDICAL FA-2
CILITIES FOR THE PROVISION OF CUL-3
TURALLY COMPETENT, EVIDENCE-BASED 4
MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR VETERANS. 5
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Veterans 6
Affairs shall carry out a three-year pilot program under 7
which the Secretary shall make grants to eligible mental 8
health care providers for the provision of culturally com-9
petent, evidence-based mental health care for veterans. 10
(b) E
LIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant 11
under the pilot program, a mental health care provider 12
shall— 13
(1) be a non-profit organization; 14
(2) have operated at least one outpatient men-15
tal health facility in the United States for a contin-16
uous period of at least three years; and 17
(3) submit to the Secretary an application that 18
includes such information and assurances as the 19
Secretary may require, including— 20
(A) an identification of the outpatient fa-21
cility or facilities where the provider will provide 22
mental health care to veterans using the grant 23
funds; 24
(B) a plan under which at least one clini-25
cian employed by the provider at each facility 26
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•HR 2283 IH
for which a grant is made is trained to provide 1
culturally competent veterans mental health 2
care pursuant to the requirements established 3
by the Secretary under subsection (f); and 4
(C) an identification of the percentage of 5
the operating budget for each such facility that 6
was provided through Federal grants during the 7
fiscal year preceding the year during which the 8
application is submitted. 9
(c) U
SE OFFUNDS.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The recipient of a grant 11
under the pilot program shall use the grant— 12
(A) to provide culturally competent, evi-13
dence-based mental health care for veterans; 14
(B) to operate an existing outpatient men-15
tal health facility or establish a new outpatient 16
mental health facility for the purpose of pro-17
viding such care; and 18
(C) to encourage veterans who are eligible 19
for enrollment in the patient enrollment system 20
under section 1705 of title 38, United States 21
Code, to enroll in such system and to receive 22
medical services furnished by the Department 23
of Veterans Affairs. 24
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(2) LIMITATIONS.—The recipient of a grant 1
under the pilot program may not— 2
(A) charge any veteran a fee associated 3
with the receipt of mental health care; or 4
(B) refuse to provide mental health care to 5
any veteran on the basis that the veteran is not 6
eligible for reimbursement for such care under 7
a health plan contract or any Federal, State, or 8
local government program. 9
(3) R
EIMBURSEMENT.—Nothing in this sub-10
section shall prevent the recipient of a grant under 11
the pilot program from seeking or receiving reim-12
bursement for all, or a portion, of the mental health 13
care provided to a veteran, including reimbursement 14
under a health plan contract, the Community Care 15
Program of the Department under section 1703 of 16
title 38, United States Care, or any other Federal, 17
State, or local government program. 18
(d) S
ELECTION OF FACILITIES.—In selecting out-19
patient mental health facilities for the receipt of grants 20
under the pilot program, the Secretary— 21
(1) shall ensure that grants are distributed 22
evenly among outpatient mental health facilities lo-23
cated in rural and urban areas; 24
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(2) may consider the proportion of veterans his-1
torically served by the outpatient mental health fa-2
cilities; and 3
(3) may prioritize outpatient mental health fa-4
cilities located in areas that the Secretary deter-5
mines— 6
(A) are medically underserved; 7
(B) have large veteran populations; 8
(C) are located near military installations; 9
or 10
(D) have large numbers of veterans at high 11
risk of suicide. 12
(e) A
MOUNT OFGRANT.— 13
(1) I
N GENERAL.— 14
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 15
subparagraph (B), no grant under the pilot pro-16
gram for a facility for any fiscal year may ex-17
ceed $1,500,000. 18
(B) L
IMITATION.—In the case of an out-19
patient mental health facility for which at least 20
50 percent of the operating budget of the facil-21
ity for the preceding fiscal year was provided 22
through Federal grants, no grant under the 23
pilot program for the facility for any fiscal year 24
may exceed the lesser of— 25
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(i) 50 percent of the operating budget 1
of the facility; or 2
(ii) $1,500,000. 3
(2) M
ULTIPLE GRANTS.—The recipient of a 4
grant under the pilot program— 5
(A) may apply for, and receive, grants for 6
more than one facility of the recipient for any 7
fiscal year; and 8
(B) may apply for, and receive, a grant for 9
a facility that has already received a grant 10
under the pilot program. 11
(f) T
RAININGREQUIREMENT.—The Secretary shall 12
establish the requirements for the training referred to in 13
subsection (b)(2)(A). 14
(g) R
EGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall prescribe 15
regulations to carry out this section, which shall include 16
a requirement that each recipient of a grant under the 17
pilot program shall— 18
(1) demonstrate the capacity to provide ac-19
countability; 20
(2) demonstrate clinical outcomes; and 21
(3) justify the effective use of any private in-22
vestment funds or Federal grant funds through data 23
collection and reporting metrics. 24
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(h) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the com-1
pletion of the pilot program under this section, the Sec-2
retary shall submit to Congress a report on the pilot pro-3
gram that includes the following: 4
(1) The number of veterans who received men-5
tal health care under the program. 6
(2) The demographics of the veterans served. 7
(3) An identification of the types of mental 8
health care provided and the time period for which 9
such care was provided. 10
(4) An identification of program outcomes. 11
(5) The number of veterans who received men-12
tal health care under the program and subsequently 13
enrolled in the patient enrollment system under sec-14
tion 1705 of title 38, United States Code. 15
(6) An identification of any obstacles faced by 16
grant recipients in providing mental health care 17
under the program. 18
(i) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 19
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 20
out the pilot program under this section $20,000,000 for 21
each of fiscal years 2025 through 2027. 22
Æ
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