Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB702 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 702
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
10	10	FEBRUARY25, 2025
11	11	Mr. C
12	12	ORNYN(for himself, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mr.
13	13	C
14	14	ASSIDY, Mr. BENNET, Mr. PETERS, and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the
15	15	following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
16	16	Veterans’ Affairs
17	17	A BILL
18	18	To require a study on the quality of care difference between
19	19	mental health and addiction therapy care provided by
20	20	health care providers of the Department of Veterans
21	21	Affairs compared to non-Department providers, and for
22	22	other purposes.
23	23	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
24	24	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
25	25	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
26	26	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Mental 4
27	27	Health and Addiction Therapy Quality of Care Act’’. 5
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30	30	•S 702 IS
31	31	SEC. 2. STUDY ON QUALITY OF CARE DIFFERENCE BE-1
32	32	TWEEN MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTION 2
33	33	THERAPY CARE PROVIDED BY HEALTH CARE 3
34	34	PROVIDERS OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 4
35	35	AFFAIRS COMPARED TO NON-DEPARTMENT 5
36	36	PROVIDERS. 6
37	37	(a) I
38	38	NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 7
39	39	date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-8
40	40	erans Affairs shall seek to enter into an agreement with 9
41	41	an independent and objective organization outside the De-10
42	42	partment of Veterans Affairs under which that organiza-11
43	43	tion shall— 12
44	44	(1) conduct a study on the quality of care dif-13
45	45	ference between mental health and addiction therapy 14
46	46	care under the laws administered by the Secretary 15
47	47	provided by health care providers of the Department 16
48	48	compared to non-Department providers across var-17
49	49	ious modalities, such as telehealth, in-patient, inten-18
50	50	sive out-patient, out-patient, and residential treat-19
51	51	ment; and 20
52	52	(2) submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Af-21
53	53	fairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ 22
54	54	Affairs of the House of Representatives and publish 23
55	55	on a publicly available website a report containing 24
56	56	the final results of such study. 25
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59	59	•S 702 IS
60	60	(b) TIMING.—The Secretary shall ensure that the or-1
61	61	ganization with which the Secretary enters into an agree-2
62	62	ment pursuant to subsection (a) is able to complete the 3
63	63	requirements under such subsection by not later than 18 4
64	64	months after the date on which the agreement is entered 5
65	65	into. 6
66	66	(c) E
67	67	LEMENTS.—The report submitted pursuant to 7
68	68	subsection (a)(2) shall include an assessment of the fol-8
69	69	lowing: 9
70	70	(1) The amount of improvement in health out-10
71	71	comes from start of treatment to completion, includ-11
72	72	ing symptom scores and suicide risk using evidence- 12
73	73	based scales, including the Columbia-Suicide Sever-13
74	74	ity Rating Scale. 14
75	75	(2) Whether providers of the Department and 15
76	76	non-Department providers are using evidence-based 16
77	77	practices in the treatment of mental health and ad-17
78	78	diction therapy care, including criteria set forth by 18
79	79	the American Society of Addiction Medicine. 19
80	80	(3) Potential gaps in coordination between pro-20
81	81	viders of the Department and non-Department pro-21
82	82	viders in responding to individuals seeking mental 22
83	83	health or addiction therapy care, including the shar-23
84	84	ing of patient health records. 24
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87	87	•S 702 IS
88	88	(4) Implementation of veteran-centric care, in-1
89	89	cluding the level of satisfaction of patients with care 2
90	90	and the competency of providers with the unique ex-3
91	91	periences and needs of the military and veteran pop-4
92	92	ulation. 5
93	93	(5) Whether veterans with co-occurring condi-6
94	94	tions receive integrated care to holistically address 7
95	95	their needs. 8
96	96	(6) Whether providers monitor health outcomes 9
97	97	continually throughout treatment and at regular in-10
98	98	tervals for up to three years after treatment. 11
99	99	(7) The average length of time to initiate serv-12
100	100	ices, which shall include a comparison of the average 13
101	101	length of time between the initial point of contact 14
102	102	after patient outreach to the point of initial service, 15
103	103	as measured or determined by the Secretary. 16
104	104	Æ
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