Authorizes the appointment of hearing aid specialists in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Requires an eligible person to: (1) hold an associate's degree in hearing instrument sciences or its equivalent from a college or university approved by the VA Secretary or have successfully completed an approved hearing aid specialist apprenticeship program, and (2) be licensed as a hearing aid specialist or its equivalent in a state.
Requires the Secretary to: (1) submit an annual report on timely access to hearing health services and on contracting policies with respect to providing hearing health services in non-VA facilities, and (2) update and reissue the VHA handbook entitled "VHA Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Services" to reflect the requirements of this Act.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3508 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3508
To amend title 38, United States Code, to clarify the qualifications of
hearing aid specialists of the Veterans Health Administration of the
Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 15, 2013
Mr. Duffy (for himself and Mr. Walz) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to clarify the qualifications of
hearing aid specialists of the Veterans Health Administration of the
Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. APPOINTMENT OF HEARING AID SPECIALISTS TO VETERANS HEALTH
ADMINISTRATION.
(a) Hearing Aid Specialists.--
(1) Appointment.--Section 7401(3) of title 38, United
States Code, is amended by inserting ``hearing aid
specialists,'' after ``Audiologists,''.
(2) Qualifications.--Section 7402(b) of such title is
amended--
(A) by redesignating paragraph (14) as paragraph
(15); and
(B) by inserting after paragraph (13) the following
new paragraph (14):
``(14) Hearing Aid Specialist.--To be eligible to be appointed to a
hearing aid specialist position, a person must--
``(A) hold an associate's degree in hearing instrument
sciences, or its equivalent, from a college or university
approved by the Secretary, or have successfully completed a
hearing aid specialist apprenticeship program approved by the
Secretary; and
``(B) be licensed as a hearing aid specialist, or its
equivalent, in a State.''.
(b) Treatment of Certain Current Specialists.--
(1) In general.--A hearing aid specialist described in
paragraph (2) shall be deemed to be eligible for appointment to
a hearing aid specialist position under sections 7401(3) and
7402(b)(14) of title 38, United States Code, as amended by
subsection (a).
(2) Hearing aid specialist described.--A hearing aid
specialist described in this paragraph is a hearing aid
specialist who--
(A) is not covered under section 7402(b)(14) of
title 38, United States Code, as amended by subsection
(a); and
(B) during the two-year period ending on the date
of the enactment of this Act--
(i) held an unrevoked, unsuspended hearing
aid license, or its equivalent, in a State; and
(ii) worked as a licensed hearing aid
specialist in a State.
(c) Annual Report Required.--
(1) In general.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, and each year thereafter, the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Congress a report
on the following:
(A) Timely access to hearing health services.
(B) Contracting policies with respect to providing
hearing health services in non-Department facilities.
(2) Timely access.--With respect to the matters under
paragraph (1)(A), the report shall include the following:
(A) The staffing levels, as of the date of the
report, of audiologists, health technicians in
audiology, and hearing aid specialists in the Veterans
Health Administration.
(B) A description of how the Secretary measures
performance with respect to appointments and care
relating to hearing health.
(C) The average time, as of the date of the report,
that a patient waits to receive an appointment,
beginning on the date on which the patient makes the
request, for--
(i) a disability rating evaluation;
(ii) a primary hearing aid evaluation and
ordering of hearing aids;
(iii) dispensing of hearing aids; and
(iv) any follow-up hearing health
appointment.
(D) The percentage of patients whose total wait
time described in subparagraph (C) for both an initial
and follow-up appointment is--
(i) less than 15 days;
(ii) between 15 days and 28 days;
(iii) between 29 days and 42 days;
(iv) between 43 days and 56 days; or
(v) exceeds 56 days.
(3) Contracting policies.--With respect to the matters
under paragraph (1)(B), the report shall include the following:
(A) The number of patients that the Secretary
refers to non-Department audiologists for initial
hearing health diagnosis appointments.
(B) The number of patients described in
subparagraph (A) whom the Secretary refers to non-
Department hearing aid specialists for follow-up
hearing health care as described in paragraph (2)(C).
(C) The policies of the Veterans Health
Administration regarding the referral of patients to
non-Department hearing aid specialists and how such
policies will be applied under the Patient-Centered
Community Care Initiative.
(d) Updated Handbook.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall update and reissue the
handbook of the Veteran Health Administration numbered 1170.02 and
titled ``VHA Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Services'' to
reflect the requirements made by this section or the amendments under
this section.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Subcommittee Hearings Held.
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