Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2640 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. 2640
5	5	To amend title 38, United States Code, to ensure that certain health care
6	6	contractors of the Department of Veterans Affairs are subject to Federal
7	7	tort claims laws, to improve the accountability of physicians of the
8	8	Department, and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	APRIL3, 2025
11	11	Mr. L
12	12	UTTRELLintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
13	13	Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To amend title 38, United States Code, to ensure that cer-
16	16	tain health care contractors of the Department of Vet-
17	17	erans Affairs are subject to Federal tort claims laws,
18	18	to improve the accountability of physicians of the Depart-
19	19	ment, and for 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 ‘‘Brian Tally VA Em-4
24	24	ployment Transparency Act of 2025’’. 5
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27	27	•HR 2640 IH
28	28	SEC. 2. ACCOUNTABILITY OF HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS AT 1
29	29	FACILITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VET-2
30	30	ERANS AFFAIRS. 3
31	31	(a) T
32	32	REATMENT OFCONTRACTORSUNDERFEDERAL 4
33	33	T
34	34	ORTCLAIMSLAWS.—Section 7316 of title 38, United 5
35	35	States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-6
36	36	lowing new subsection: 7
37	37	‘‘(g)(1)(A) This section shall not apply with respect 8
38	38	to civil actions or other proceedings brought by an indi-9
39	39	vidual, or the estate of an individual, for damages for per-10
40	40	sonal injury, including death, allegedly arising from the 11
41	41	malpractice or negligence of a non-Department provider 12
42	42	in the course of providing hospital care, medical services, 13
43	43	or nursing home care at a facility of the Department, if 14
44	44	the Secretary provides to the individual, or the estate of 15
45	45	the individual, by not later than 45 days after the Sec-16
46	46	retary receives notice of the civil action or other pro-17
47	47	ceeding, the information referred to in subparagraph (B). 18
48	48	‘‘(B) The information referred to in this subpara-19
49	49	graph is the following: 20
50	50	‘‘(i) A description of the extent of the involve-21
51	51	ment of the non-Department provider in the hospital 22
52	52	care, medical services, or nursing home care fur-23
53	53	nished to the individual. 24
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56	56	•HR 2640 IH
57	57	‘‘(ii) The nature of such care or services fur-1
58	58	nished to the individual by the non-Department pro-2
59	59	vider. 3
60	60	‘‘(iii) The full name of the non-Department pro-4
61	61	vider. 5
62	62	‘‘(iv) The fact that the notification is made pur-6
63	63	suant to this paragraph. 7
64	64	‘‘(C) A civil action or other proceeding arising from 8
65	65	an incident of alleged malpractice or negligence of a non- 9
66	66	Department provider may not be brought in both a State 10
67	67	court and in a Federal court. 11
68	68	‘‘(2)(A) If five or more separate covered cases 12
69	69	brought during a five-year period include allegations of 13
70	70	malpractice or negligence on the part of any individual 14
71	71	non-Department provider, the Secretary— 15
72	72	‘‘(i) shall revoke the provider’s authorization to 16
73	73	provide hospital care, medical services, or nursing 17
74	74	home care at a facility of the Department; and 18
75	75	‘‘(ii) may not enter into any contract or agree-19
76	76	ment that authorizes the provider to provide such 20
77	77	care or services at a facility of the Department. 21
78	78	‘‘(B) The Secretary shall establish a process by which 22
79	79	a non-Department provider may appeal an action under 23
80	80	subparagraph (A). 24
81	81	‘‘(3) In this subsection: 25
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84	84	•HR 2640 IH
85	85	‘‘(A) The term ‘covered case’ means any of the 1
86	86	following: 2
87	87	‘‘(i) A civil action or proceeding pursuant 3
88	88	to this section that resulted in a judgment 4
89	89	against the United States, or such an action or 5
90	90	proceeding that the United States compromises 6
91	91	or settles. 7
92	92	‘‘(ii) A civil action or proceeding pursuant 8
93	93	to State law for personal injury, including 9
94	94	death, allegedly arising from malpractice or 10
95	95	negligence that resulted in a judgment against 11
96	96	a non-Department provider, or such an action 12
97	97	or proceeding that the non-Department provider 13
98	98	compromises or settles. 14
99	99	‘‘(B) The term ‘non-Department provider’— 15
100	100	‘‘(i) means a health care provider who is 16
101	101	not an employee of the Federal Government but 17
102	102	who is authorized by the Secretary to provide 18
103	103	health care or treatment at a facility of the De-19
104	104	partment pursuant to a contract or other agree-20
105	105	ment; and 21
106	106	‘‘(ii) does not include a provider through 22
107	107	which the Secretary furnishes care or services 23
108	108	under section 1703 of this title.’’. 24
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111	111	•HR 2640 IH
112	112	(b) NOTIFICATIONS AND OUTREACHREGARDING 1
113	113	F
114	114	EDERALTORTCLAIMS.—Such section, as amended by 2
115	115	subsection (a), is further amended by adding at the end 3
116	116	the following new subsections: 4
117	117	‘‘(h) Not later than 30 days following the date on 5
118	118	which a judgment is entered against the United States in 6
119	119	a civil action or proceeding pursuant to this section that 7
120	120	includes a conclusion that a non-Department employee 8
121	121	committed negligence or malpractice, the Secretary shall 9
122	122	notify the following entities with respect to such judgment: 10
123	123	‘‘(1) The appropriate licensing entity of each 11
124	124	State in which such non-Department employee is li-12
125	125	censed as a health care professional. 13
126	126	‘‘(2) The National Practitioner Data Bank es-14
127	127	tablished pursuant to the Health Care Quality Im-15
128	128	provement Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 11101 et seq.). 16
129	129	‘‘(i) The Secretary shall publish in a clear and con-17
130	130	spicuous manner on the internet website of the Depart-18
131	131	ment an explanation of the rights of an individual under 19
132	132	this section, including— 20
133	133	‘‘(1) an explanation of the procedure to file an 21
134	134	administrative claim pursuant to section 515 of this 22
135	135	title or section 2675 of title 28; 23
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138	138	•HR 2640 IH
139	139	‘‘(2) the circumstances under which an indi-1
140	140	vidual may file a civil action or proceeding pursuant 2
141	141	to this section; and 3
142	142	‘‘(3) time limits that can bar recovery under 4
143	143	this section.’’. 5
144	144	(c) A
145	145	CCOUNTABILITY OF PHYSICIANS OF THE DE-6
146	146	PARTMENT.—Section 7461 of such title is amended— 7
147	147	(1) in subsection (a)— 8
148	148	(A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘Whenever’’; 9
149	149	and 10
150	150	(B) by adding at the end the following new 11
151	151	paragraph: 12
152	152	‘‘(2) The Under Secretary shall bring charges under 13
153	153	paragraph (1) based on professional conduct or com-14
154	154	petence against a section 7401(1) employee who is accused 15
155	155	of committing negligence or malpractice in three or more 16
156	156	separate civil actions or proceedings pursuant to section 17
157	157	7316 of this title within a five-year period if such actions 18
158	158	or proceedings— 19
159	159	‘‘(A) resulted in a judgment against the United 20
160	160	States; or 21
161	161	‘‘(B) were compromised or settled by the 22
162	162	United States.’’; and 23
163	163	(2) in subsection (c)(3), by adding at the end 24
164	164	the following new subparagraph: 25
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167	167	•HR 2640 IH
168	168	‘‘(C) The provision of care subject to a 1
169	169	civil action or proceeding pursuant to section 2
170	170	7316 of this title that— 3
171	171	‘‘(i) resulted in a judgment against 4
172	172	the United States; or 5
173	173	‘‘(ii) is compromised or settled by the 6
174	174	United States.’’. 7
175	175	(d) A
176	176	PPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 8
177	177	section shall take effect with respect to actions or omis-9
178	178	sions covered under section 7316 of title 38, United States 10
179	179	Code, occurring on or after the date of the enactment of 11
180	180	this Act. 12
181	181	Æ
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