Written Informed Consent Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Written Informed Consent Act expands an existing Veterans Health Administration informed-consent directive beyond long-term opioid therapy for pain. The VA Secretary must update VHA Directive 1005, dated May 13, 2020, so its informed-consent framework also applies to antipsychotics, stimulants, antidepressants, anxiolytics, and narcotics. The bill does not ban those medications. It changes the process around prescribing them in the VA system by requiring more formal consent practices for several categories of psychiatric, controlled, or dependence-risk medications used by veterans.
Who Benefits and How
Veterans prescribed antipsychotics benefit because VA informed-consent procedures would apply before or during treatment. Veterans prescribed antidepressants or anxiolytics benefit from clearer disclosure of risks, alternatives, and treatment expectations. Veterans receiving narcotics or stimulants benefit because consent documentation would cover medications with misuse, dependency, or side-effect concerns. Veterans service organizations benefit from a concrete patient-rights requirement they can monitor in VA care.
Who Bears the Burden and How
VA clinicians must document informed consent for more medication categories. Veterans Health Administration pharmacy leaders must update Directive 1005 and implementation guidance. VA mental health clinics may need workflow changes for antipsychotic, stimulant, antidepressant, and anxiolytic prescribing. VA medical centers must train staff and monitor compliance with the expanded directive.
Key Provisions
- Requires VA to update VHA Directive 1005.
- Expands informed-consent procedures from long-term opioid therapy to antipsychotics, stimulants, antidepressants, anxiolytics, and narcotics.
- Protects veteran patients through more formal medication-risk disclosure and documentation.
- Leaves prescribing authority intact while changing the consent process.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires the Veterans Affairs Secretary to update VHA Directive 1005 on informed consent for long-term opioid therapy so written informed-consent procedures also apply to antipsychotics, stimulants, antidepressants, anxiolytics, and narcotics.
Key Policy Areas
Veterans, Health Care, Mental Health
Primary Purpose
Requires the Veterans Affairs Secretary to update VHA Directive 1005 on informed consent for long-term opioid therapy so written informed-consent procedures also apply to antipsychotics, stimulants, antidepressants, anxiolytics, and narcotics.
Policy Domains
Resolution provisions
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Veterans prescribed antipsychotics
- Veterans prescribed antidepressants
- Veterans receiving narcotics
- Veterans service organizations
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- VA clinicians
- VHA pharmacy leaders
- VA mental health clinics
- VA medical centers
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Mr. Bilirakis (for himself, Mr. Bergman, and Mr. Self) introduced …
Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced in House
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology