Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2426 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. 2426
5	5	To require a study on the quality of care difference between mental health
6	6	and addiction therapy care provided by health care providers of the
7	7	Department of Veterans Affairs compared to non-Department providers,
8	8	and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	MARCH27, 2025
11	11	Mr. F
12	12	ALLON(for himself, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. WILSONof South Carolina, Mr.
13	13	M
14	14	AGAZINER, Mr. GOODEN, and Mr. NEHLS) introduced the following bill;
15	15	which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
16	16	A BILL
17	17	To require a study on the quality of care difference between
18	18	mental health and addiction therapy care provided by
19	19	health care providers of the Department of Veterans
20	20	Affairs compared to non-Department providers, and for
21	21	other purposes.
22	22	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
23	23	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
24	24	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
25	25	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Mental 4
26	26	Health and Addiction Therapy Quality of Care Act’’. 5
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29	29	•HR 2426 IH
30	30	SEC. 2. STUDY ON QUALITY OF CARE DIFFERENCE BE-1
31	31	TWEEN MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTION 2
32	32	THERAPY CARE PROVIDED BY HEALTH CARE 3
33	33	PROVIDERS OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 4
34	34	AFFAIRS COMPARED TO NON-DEPARTMENT 5
35	35	PROVIDERS. 6
36	36	(a) I
37	37	NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 7
38	38	date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-8
39	39	erans Affairs shall seek to enter into an agreement with 9
40	40	an independent and objective organization outside the De-10
41	41	partment of Veterans Affairs under which that organiza-11
42	42	tion shall— 12
43	43	(1) conduct a study on the quality of care dif-13
44	44	ference between mental health and addiction therapy 14
45	45	care under the laws administered by the Secretary 15
46	46	provided by health care providers of the Department 16
47	47	compared to non-Department providers across var-17
48	48	ious modalities, such as telehealth, in-patient, inten-18
49	49	sive out-patient, out-patient, and residential treat-19
50	50	ment; and 20
51	51	(2) submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Af-21
52	52	fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ 22
53	53	Affairs of the House of Representatives and publish 23
54	54	on a publicly available website a report containing 24
55	55	the final results of such study. 25
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58	58	•HR 2426 IH
59	59	(b) TIMING.—The Secretary shall ensure that the or-1
60	60	ganization with which the Secretary enters into an agree-2
61	61	ment pursuant to subsection (a) is able to complete the 3
62	62	requirements under such subsection by not later than 18 4
63	63	months after the date on which the agreement is entered 5
64	64	into. 6
65	65	(c) E
66	66	LEMENTS.—The report submitted pursuant to 7
67	67	subsection (a)(2) shall include an assessment of the fol-8
68	68	lowing: 9
69	69	(1) The amount of improvement in health out-10
70	70	comes from start of treatment to completion, includ-11
71	71	ing symptom scores and suicide risk using evidence- 12
72	72	based scales, including the Columbia-Suicide Sever-13
73	73	ity Rating Scale. 14
74	74	(2) Whether providers of the Department and 15
75	75	non-Department providers are using evidence-based 16
76	76	practices in the treatment of mental health and ad-17
77	77	diction therapy care, including criteria set forth by 18
78	78	the American Society of Addiction Medicine. 19
79	79	(3) Potential gaps in coordination between pro-20
80	80	viders of the Department and non-Department pro-21
81	81	viders in responding to individuals seeking mental 22
82	82	health or addiction therapy care, including the shar-23
83	83	ing of patient health records. 24
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86	86	•HR 2426 IH
87	87	(4) Implementation of veteran-centric care, in-1
88	88	cluding the level of satisfaction of patients with care 2
89	89	and the competency of providers with the unique ex-3
90	90	periences and needs of the military and veteran pop-4
91	91	ulation. 5
92	92	(5) Whether veterans with co-occurring condi-6
93	93	tions receive integrated care to holistically address 7
94	94	their needs. 8
95	95	(6) Whether providers monitor health outcomes 9
96	96	continually throughout treatment and at regular in-10
97	97	tervals for up to three years after treatment. 11
98	98	(7) The average length of time to initiate serv-12
99	99	ices, which shall include a comparison of the average 13
100	100	length of time between the initial point of contact 14
101	101	after patient outreach to the point of initial service, 15
102	102	as measured or determined by the Secretary. 16
103	103	Æ
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