S1134-119

Introduced

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the Office of Patient Advocacy of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

119th Congress Introduced Mar 26, 2025

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

The bill amends VA law to require each VA medical center to designate patient advocates specifically for rural veterans receiving care through community clinics or community care networks. It relies on compliance mandates and reporting requirements. The main policy areas are Veterans Affairs and Healthcare.

Who Benefits and How

Rural veterans receiving VA healthcare could face lower compliance burdens and Congressional Veterans Affairs Committees could gain revenue opportunities.

Who Bears the Burden and How

VA medical center directors would take on compliance duties, Secretary of Veterans Affairs would take on compliance duties, and VA Office of Patient Advocacy (central office) would take on compliance duties.

Key Provisions

  • Amends VA law to require each VA medical center to designate patient advocates specifically for rural veterans receiving care through community clinics or community care networks.

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

The bill amends VA law to require each VA medical center to designate patient advocates specifically for rural veterans receiving care through community clinics or community care networks.

Key Policy Areas

Veterans Affairs, Healthcare

Primary Purpose

The bill amends VA law to require each VA medical center to designate patient advocates specifically for rural veterans receiving care through community clinics or community care networks.

Policy Domains

Veterans Affairs Healthcare

Section 2 - Improvement of Office of Patient Advocacy

Identified Gains
  • Rural veterans receiving VA healthcare
  • Congressional Veterans Affairs Committees
Model: codex-gpt-5:bulk-repair | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is
Rural veterans receiving VA healthcare:
Congressional Veterans Affairs Committees:
Identified Costs
  • VA medical center directors
  • Secretary of Veterans Affairs
  • VA Office of Patient Advocacy (central office)
Model: codex-gpt-5:bulk-repair | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is
VA medical center directors:
Secretary of Veterans Affairs:
VA Office of Patient Advocacy (central office):

Legislative Progress

Introduced
Introduced Committee Passed
Mar 26, 2025

Mr. Cramer (for himself and Ms. Rosen) introduced the following …

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Veterans
4 mentions across 1 clause
-3 negative ?1 uncertain

Secretary of Veterans Affairs, VA Office of Patient Advocacy (central office), VA medical center directors

Healthcare
1 mention across 1 clause
+1 positive

Rural veterans receiving VA healthcare

Congressional Oversight
1 mention across 1 clause
+1 positive

Congressional Veterans Affairs Committees

1/2
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Veterans Affairs Healthcare
Actor Mappings
"the_director"
→ Director of the Office of Patient Advocacy (VA central office)
"the_secretary"
→ Secretary of Veterans Affairs
"director_of_a_medical_center"
→ Director of individual VA medical centers

Note: 'The Director' in subsection (g) refers to the Director of the Office of Patient Advocacy (central VA office), while 'director of a medical center' refers to local facility directors - distinction is clear from context

Key Definitions

Terms defined in this bill

2 terms
"rural and highly-rural areas" §section_2_f

Areas served by VA medical centers where veterans receive care through community-based outpatient clinics or community care network (implicitly references existing VA rural area definitions)

"Patient Advocate Tracking System" §section_2_h

VA system used to track patient advocate issues, resolution times, and feedback (or successor system)

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