To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to improve the availability of care for veterans at facilities of the Department of Defense.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Schmidt (for himself and Ms. Elfreth) introduced the following …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill requires the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to work together to improve healthcare access for veterans by sharing resources at military medical facilities that have extra capacity. It mandates the creation of joint action plans that include cross-credentialing doctors, integrating computer systems, and establishing oversight mechanisms for patient safety.
Who Benefits and How
Veterans enrolled in VA healthcare benefit by gaining access to military medical facilities near them that have available capacity, potentially reducing wait times and travel distances for care.
Military medical treatment facilities with excess capacity benefit by increasing their patient volume, which helps justify their resources and provides more training opportunities for military medical staff.
DoD and VA graduate medical education programs benefit from increased case volume and complexity, improving training for doctors and other healthcare professionals.
Health IT vendors may benefit from contracts to integrate DoD and VA computer systems for seamless medical records sharing.
Who Bears the Burden and How
DoD and VA administrative staff face new coordination requirements including developing action plans, designating liaison coordinators at each facility, maintaining public websites of sharing agreements, and submitting reports to Congress.
Healthcare providers at both agencies must go through cross-credentialing and privileging processes to be authorized to treat patients at both DoD and VA facilities.
The DoD-VA Joint Executive Committee must approve all action plans before they can be implemented.
Key Provisions
- Requires action plans for resource sharing between DoD and VA at covered facilities
- Mandates cross-credentialing of healthcare providers to work at both DoD and VA facilities
- Requires integration of IT systems for seamless medical records and billing
- Establishes a secure complaint mechanism for veterans with whistleblower protections
- Requires quarterly joint review of patient safety incidents and complaints
- Mandates annual briefings to Congress on implementation progress and costs
- Sunsets on September 30, 2028
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Requires the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs to develop and implement action plans to improve resource sharing and healthcare access for enrolled veterans at military medical treatment facilities with excess capacity.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Leverage excess capacity at military medical treatment facilities to improve healthcare access for veterans by mandating coordination between DoD and VA, including cross-credentialing, IT integration, and patient safety oversight."
Likely Beneficiaries
- Enrolled veterans seeking healthcare access
- Department of Defense medical education programs (increased case volume)
- Military medical treatment facilities with excess capacity
- VA medical centers near DoD facilities
Likely Burden Bearers
- Department of Defense administrative staff (new coordination requirements)
- Department of Veterans Affairs administrative staff (new coordination requirements)
- Healthcare providers at both DoD and VA facilities (cross-credentialing processes)
- IT departments at both agencies (system integration requirements)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretaries"
- → Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Veterans Affairs jointly
- "the_secretary_of_defense"
- → Secretary of Defense
- "the_secretary_of_veterans_affairs"
- → Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Has the meaning given that term in section 101 of title 38, United States Code.
A military medical treatment facility as defined in section 1073c of title 10, United States Code, or a medical facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs described in section 8101(3) of title 38, United States Code.
A veteran enrolled in the patient enrollment system of the Department of Veterans Affairs established and operated under section 1705(a) of title 38, United States Code.
An agreement for the sharing of health-care resources between the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs under section 1104 of title 10, United States Code, or section 8111 of title 38, United States Code.
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