To amend title 38, United States Code, to permit the voluntary transmission of patient contact information to certain religious or faith-based organizations by chaplains employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
Allows VA chaplains, if a patient chooses, to send that patient's contact information to a specified outside religious or faith-based organization after conducting a spiritual assessment.
Who Benefits and How
Veteran patients who want outside faith-based support could more easily be connected to organizations they choose after a VA spiritual assessment.
Who Bears the Burden and How
VA chaplains and the department would take on new consent and information-sharing responsibilities when making those patient-requested referrals.
Key Provisions
- Authorizes VA chaplains to transmit patient contact information to a specified outside religious or faith-based organization at the patient's election.
- Limits the authority to patients on whom a VA chaplain has conducted a spiritual assessment.
- Defines spiritual assessment for this new section of title 38.
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
Allows VA chaplains, if a patient chooses, to send that patient's contact information to a specified outside religious or faith-based organization after conducting a spiritual assessment.
Key Policy Areas
Veterans, Healthcare, Government Operations
Primary Purpose
Allows VA chaplains, if a patient chooses, to send that patient's contact information to a specified outside religious or faith-based organization after conducting a spiritual assessment.
Policy Domains
Main Provisions
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Veteran patients seeking voluntary faith-based support outside the Department of Veterans Affairs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Department of Veterans Affairs chaplains and administrators handling the new patient-directed referral authority
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Keith Self
R-TX | Primary Sponsor
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Self (for himself and Mr. Ciscomani) introduced the following …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Veteran patients who want outside faith-based support after a VA spiritual assessment
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_department"
- → Department of Veterans Affairs
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
An evaluation by a VA chaplain that gathers spiritual information about a patient and may inform the patient's treatment plan.
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