| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 1134 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the Office of Patient |
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| 6 | 6 | | Advocacy of the Department of Veterans Affairs. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 8 | 8 | | MARCH26, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. C |
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| 10 | 10 | | RAMER(for himself and Ms. ROSEN) introduced the following bill; which |
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| 11 | 11 | | was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs |
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| 12 | 12 | | A BILL |
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| 13 | 13 | | To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the |
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| 14 | 14 | | Office of Patient Advocacy of the Department of Vet- |
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| 15 | 15 | | erans Affairs. |
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| 16 | 16 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 17 | 17 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 18 | 18 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 19 | 19 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening VA Pa-4 |
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| 20 | 20 | | tient Advocacy for Rural Veterans Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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| 21 | 21 | | SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT OF OFFICE OF PATIENT ADVOCACY 6 |
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| 22 | 22 | | OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 7 |
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| 23 | 23 | | Section 7309A of title 38, United States Code, is 8 |
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| 24 | 24 | | amended— 9 |
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| 25 | 25 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:39 Apr 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1134.IS S1134 |
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| 26 | 26 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 27 | 27 | | •S 1134 IS |
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| 28 | 28 | | (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub-1 |
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| 29 | 29 | | section (i); and 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol-3 |
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| 31 | 31 | | lowing new subsections: 4 |
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| 32 | 32 | | ‘‘(f) C |
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| 33 | 33 | | OORDINATION OFCARE INRURAL ANDHIGH-5 |
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| 34 | 34 | | LYRURALAREAS.—(1) The director of a medical center 6 |
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| 35 | 35 | | of the Department shall designate not fewer than one pa-7 |
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| 36 | 36 | | tient advocate to serve as the coordinator for veterans in 8 |
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| 37 | 37 | | rural and highly-rural areas served by that medical center 9 |
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| 38 | 38 | | who are receiving care through the broader network of 10 |
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| 39 | 39 | | care furnished by the Department through community- 11 |
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| 40 | 40 | | based outpatient clinics or the community care network. 12 |
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| 41 | 41 | | ‘‘(2) An individual designated under paragraph (1) 13 |
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| 42 | 42 | | shall carry out the functions of the patient advocate posi-14 |
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| 43 | 43 | | tion specific to supporting veterans in rural and highly- 15 |
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| 44 | 44 | | rural areas receiving care at locations outside of a medical 16 |
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| 45 | 45 | | center of the Department. 17 |
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| 46 | 46 | | ‘‘(3) To the maximum extent practicable, the director 18 |
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| 47 | 47 | | of a medical center shall designate existing staff of the 19 |
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| 48 | 48 | | medical center to carry out paragraph (1). 20 |
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| 49 | 49 | | ‘‘(g) I |
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| 50 | 50 | | NCLUSION OFMEDICALCENTERDIRECTORS IN 21 |
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| 51 | 51 | | C |
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| 52 | 52 | | HAIN OFREPORTING.—The Director shall ensure that 22 |
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| 53 | 53 | | a patient advocate at a medical center of the Department 23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | reports to the director of that medical center at some point 24 |
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| 55 | 55 | | along the reporting line for the patient advocate. 25 |
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| 57 | 57 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 58 | 58 | | •S 1134 IS |
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| 59 | 59 | | ‘‘(h) ANNUALREPORT ONINFORMATION INPATIENT 1 |
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| 60 | 60 | | A |
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| 61 | 61 | | DVOCATETRACKINGSYSTEM.—(1) Not less frequently 2 |
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| 62 | 62 | | than annually, the Secretary shall submit to the Com-3 |
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| 63 | 63 | | mittee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate, the Committee 4 |
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| 64 | 64 | | on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives, and 5 |
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| 65 | 65 | | the Director of each Veterans Integrated Service Network 6 |
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| 66 | 66 | | a report outlining information generated through the Pa-7 |
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| 67 | 67 | | tient Advocate Tracking System, or successor system. 8 |
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| 68 | 68 | | ‘‘(2) Each report required under paragraph (1) shall 9 |
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| 69 | 69 | | include de-identified data from the Patient Advocate 10 |
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| 70 | 70 | | Tracking System, or successor system, regarding— 11 |
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| 71 | 71 | | ‘‘(A) common issues reported; 12 |
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| 72 | 72 | | ‘‘(B) resolution times for such issues; 13 |
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| 73 | 73 | | ‘‘(C) resolution times for requests for informa-14 |
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| 74 | 74 | | tion; and 15 |
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| 75 | 75 | | ‘‘(D) compliments or complaints received under 16 |
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| 76 | 76 | | such system.’’. 17 |
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| 77 | 77 | | Æ |
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| 79 | 79 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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