Infectious Disease Reporting Act

Infectious Disease Reporting Act - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to report each case of reportable infectious disease (a disease that a state requires to be reported) that occurs at a medical facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to the appropriate state entity, as well as to the accrediting organization of such facility.

Requires the Secretary, upon a failure to report, to pay to a state the same penalty that a non-federal facility of such state would pay for a failure to report. Allows a state to file a civil action against the VA for the recovery of such amount.

[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1792 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1792

   To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of 
 Veterans Affairs to report cases of reportable infectious diseases at 
medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs in accordance 
                            with State law.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 26, 2013

   Mr. Coffman (for himself and Mr. Roe of Tennessee) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of 
 Veterans Affairs to report cases of reportable infectious diseases at 
medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs in accordance 
                            with State law.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Infectious Disease Reporting Act''.

SEC. 2. REPORT OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE AT MEDICAL FACILITIES OF 
              DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) In General.--Section 7311 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(f)(1) The Secretary shall report to the appropriate entity each 
case of a reportable infectious disease that occurs at a medical 
facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs in accordance with the 
laws of the State in which the facility is located.
    ``(2) In addition to reporting each case of a reportable infectious 
disease at a medical facility of the Department pursuant to paragraph 
(1), the Secretary shall report each such case to the accrediting 
organization of such facility.
    ``(3)(A) If the Secretary fails to report a case of a reportable 
infectious disease at a medical facility of the Department in 
accordance with State law pursuant to paragraph (1), the Secretary 
shall pay to the State an amount equal to the amount that a medical 
facility not owned by the Federal Government that is located in the 
same State would pay as a penalty to such State for such failure.
    ``(B) The State may file a civil action against the Secretary in 
the United States district court for the district in which the medical 
facility is located to recover from the United States the amount 
described in subparagraph (A).
    ``(4) In this subsection, the term `reportable infectious disease' 
means, with respect to a medical facility of the Department, a disease 
that the State in which the facility is located requires to be 
reported.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The reporting requirement under section 
7311(f) of title 38, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), 
shall apply with respect to a case of reportable infectious disease 
occurring at a medical facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs 
on or after the date that is 60 days after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
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