Veterans Mental Health and Addiction Therapy Quality of Care Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill orders a VA study comparing mental-health and addiction-therapy care delivered by Department of Veterans Affairs providers with care delivered by non-VA providers. The study is meant to show whether veterans are receiving comparable care quality across VA facilities and community-care settings, and where access, outcomes, or treatment quality diverge.
Who Benefits and How
Veterans receiving mental-health care benefit from evidence about whether VA or community providers deliver better outcomes or access. Veterans receiving addiction treatment benefit if the study identifies gaps in care quality or continuity. VA mental-health leaders benefit from data that can guide staffing, community-care referrals, and quality improvement. Congressional Veterans' Affairs committees benefit from an oversight record comparing VA and non-VA care.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The VA Secretary must conduct the study and report the findings. VA health-system analysts must collect quality, access, outcome, and provider-comparison data. Community-care providers may be asked for performance data or may face scrutiny if the study identifies quality gaps. VA medical centers must support data collection on mental-health and addiction-therapy services.
Key Provisions
- Requires a VA study of care-quality differences between VA and non-VA mental-health and addiction-therapy providers.
- Focuses on veterans receiving behavioral health and substance-use treatment.
- Creates an evidence base for comparing VA direct care with community-care referrals.
- Supports congressional oversight of veteran mental-health and addiction-treatment quality.
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
Requires VA to study whether veterans receive different quality of mental-health and addiction-therapy care from VA providers compared with non-VA community providers.
Key Policy Areas
Veterans, Mental Health, Health Care
Primary Purpose
Requires VA to study whether veterans receive different quality of mental-health and addiction-therapy care from VA providers compared with non-VA community providers.
Policy Domains
Bill provisions
Identified Gains
- Veterans receiving mental-health care
- Veterans receiving addiction treatment
- VA mental-health leaders
- Congressional Veterans' Affairs committees
Identified Costs
- VA Secretary
- VA health-system analysts
- Community-care providers
- VA medical centers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedReported by Mr. Moran, without amendment
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. …
Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Reported by Senator Moran without amendment. …
Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Ordered to be reported without amendment …
Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 119-35.
Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Fetterman, …
Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Fetterman, …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
VA Secretary, VA health-system analysts, VA mental-health leaders
Positive-direction: VA mental-health leaders
Negative-direction: VA Secretary, VA health-system analysts
Veterans receiving addiction treatment, Veterans receiving mental-health care
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "secretary"
- → Secretary of Veterans Affairs
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