I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 553
To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs to establish a patient outreach system relating to mental health
care, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY16, 2025
Mr. W
ITTMAN(for himself and Mr. CASE) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs to establish a patient outreach
system relating to mental health care, 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 ‘‘Be Ready to Assist 4
Veterans in Extremis Act’’ or the ‘‘BRAVE Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 1
AFFAIRS SYSTEM FOR PATIENT OUTREACH 2
RELATING TO MENTAL HEALTH CARE. 3
(a) E
STABLISHMENT OF SYSTEM.—Chapter 17 of 4
title 38, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 5
section 1720J the following new section (and conforming 6
the table of sections at the beginning of such chapter ac-7
cordingly): 8
‘‘§ 1720K. Mental health care: patient outreach sys-9
tem 10
‘‘The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall establish a 11
patient outreach system under which the Secretary shall 12
ensure that veterans who are enrolled in the system of an-13
nual patient enrollment established and operated under 14
section 1705 of this title and have experienced a traumatic 15
or other highly stressful event, may elect to receive from 16
the Secretary information relating to mental health and 17
resources relating to the mental health care services avail-18
able to the veteran.’’. 19
(b) A
DMINISTRATION OFSYSTEM.—In administering 20
the patient outreach system established under section 21
1720K of title 38, United States Code (as added by sub-22
section (a)), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall seek 23
to coordinate such system with the Transition Assistance 24
Program of the Department of Defense. 25
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(c) DEADLINE FOR ESTABLISHMENT.—The Sec-1
retary shall establish the patient outreach system under 2
such section 1720K by not later than two years after the 3
date of the enactment of this Act. 4
Æ
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