Written Informed Consent Act
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
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand its written informed consent policy. Currently, the VA requires veterans to give written informed consent before starting long-term opioid therapy for pain. This bill extends that same requirement to five additional categories of psychiatric and controlled medications: antipsychotics, stimulants, antidepressants, anxiolytics (anti-anxiety drugs), and narcotics.
Who Benefits and How
Veterans receiving mental health and pain treatment at VA facilities benefit by gaining stronger informed consent protections before being prescribed powerful psychiatric medications. Veterans advocacy groups benefit from increased transparency in VA prescribing practices. This gives veterans more information and control over their treatment decisions.
Who Bears the Burden and How
VA healthcare providers face additional administrative burden from documenting informed consent for more medication categories. The VA system may experience slower prescription workflows as consent procedures are completed. Pharmaceutical companies may see reduced prescription volumes if the consent process causes some veterans to decline treatment.
Key Provisions
- Extends VA's informed consent directive to antipsychotics, stimulants, antidepressants, anxiolytics, and narcotics
- Requires updating VHA Directive 1005 to cover these additional medication categories
- Maintains the same informed consent standards currently used for long-term opioid therapy
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
Expands the VA's written informed consent requirements for long-term opioid therapy to also cover antipsychotics, stimulants, antidepressants, anxiolytics, and narcotics prescribed to veterans.
Who Benefits
- Veterans receiving psychiatric medications
- Veterans advocacy organizations
- Patient rights advocates
Who Bears Costs
- VA healthcare providers
- VA administrative systems
- Pharmaceutical companies
Key Policy Areas
Veterans Affairs, Healthcare, Prescription Drugs
Primary Purpose
Expands the VA's written informed consent requirements for long-term opioid therapy to also cover antipsychotics, stimulants, antidepressants, anxiolytics, and narcotics prescribed to veterans.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Leverage existing VA informed consent framework to expand patient protections to additional medication categories"
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Sheehy (for himself and Mr. Tuberville) introduced the following …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Veterans Health Administration directive dated May 13, 2020, titled 'Informed Consent for Long-Term Opioid Therapy for Pain'
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