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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6038 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6038
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish an integrated
project team to improve the process for scheduling appointments for
health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 12, 2025
Mr. Mackenzie (for himself, Mr. Pappas, and Mrs. Kiggans of Virginia)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish an integrated
project team to improve the process for scheduling appointments for
health care from 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. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Improving Veteran Access to Care
Act''.
SEC. 2. IMPLEMENTATION OF AND REPORT ON EFFORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF
VETERANS AFFAIRS TO IMPROVE HEALTH CARE APPOINTMENT
SCHEDULING.
(a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit
to the appropriate committees of Congress a plan to improve the process
for scheduling appointments for health care from the Department of
Veterans Affairs, including improvements for both patients and
employees of the Department responsible for scheduling such
appointments.
(b) Elements of Plan.--
(1) In general.--The plan required by subsection (a) shall
include--
(A) such actions, resources, technology, and
process improvements as the Secretary determines
necessary to ensure the Department achieves, in a
timely manner, improved delivery of health care, access
to health care, customer experience and service
relating to the receipt of health care, and efficiency
with respect to the delivery of health care; and
(B) a proposed schedule and timeline to carry out
such plan.
(2) Objectives.--
(A) In general.--The Secretary shall ensure that
the plan required by subsection (a) addresses the
following objectives:
(i) To develop or continue the development
of a scheduling system that enables both
personnel and patients of the Department to
view available appointments for care furnished
by the Department, including primary care,
mental health care, and all forms of specialty
care.
(ii) To develop or continue the development
of a self-service scheduling platform,
available for use by all patients of the
Department, which shall--
(I) enable such patients to view
available appointments and, subject to
the method provided under subclause
(II), fully schedule appointments for
all care furnished by the Department;
(II) if a referral is required for
an appointment, provide a method for
the patient to request a referral and
subsequently book an appointment if the
referral is approved; and
(III) provide such patients with
the ability to cancel or reschedule
appointments.
(iii) To create a process through which all
patients of the Department can telephonically
speak with a scheduler who can assist the
patient to determine appointment availability
and can fully schedule appointments on behalf
of the patient for all care furnished by the
Department.
(iv) To carry out such other functions,
oversight, metric development and tracking,
change management, cross-Department
coordination, and other related matters,
including improvements to employee-facing
information technology, training, and
processes, as the Secretary determines
appropriate as it relates to scheduling tools,
functions, and operations with respect to
health care appointments furnished by the
Department.
(B) Explanation of inability to implement certain
objectives, features, or services.--If the Secretary
determines that an objective under subparagraph (A), or
any feature or service in connection with that
objective, cannot be implemented or otherwise
incorporated into a final product pursuant to the plan
required by subsection (a), the Secretary shall include
with the plan submitted under such subsection a report
containing--
(i) an explanation as to why that
objective, feature, or service cannot be
implemented or incorporated, as the case may
be; and
(ii) a plan for implementing the plan
required by subsection (a) without that
objective, feature, or service.
(c) Implementation.--Not later than two years after submitting to
the appropriate committees of Congress the plan required by subsection
(a), the Secretary shall fully implement the plan.
(d) Coordination With Electronic Health Record Modernization
Program.--In developing the plan required by subsection (a), the
Secretary shall ensure that the elements and objectives of such plan
set forth under subsection (b) are developed in consideration of the
deployment schedule and capabilities of the Electronic Health Record
Modernization Program of the Department to ensure a smooth transition
to using the tools and features under such plan as relevant and
appropriate.
(e) Implementation Reports.--Not later than each of one year and
two years after the date on which the Secretary submits the plan
required by subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to the
appropriate committees of Congress a report on the progress of the
Secretary in implementing such plan, including--
(1) the costs incurred to implement the plan as of the date
of the report;
(2) the expected costs to complete implementation of the
plan (including costs for management and technology);
(3) the schedule for deployment of any capabilities
developed pursuant to the plan; and
(4) the goals and metrics achieved, challenges, and lessons
learned in implementing the plan.
(f) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed to require the Secretary to include in the plan required by
subsection (a) any technology or process that would preclude or impede
the ability of a veteran to contact or schedule an appointment directly
with a facility or provider through a non-online scheduling process,
should the veteran choose to do so.
(g) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term
``appropriate committees of Congress'' means the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans'
Affairs of the House of Representatives.
(2) Fully schedule.--The term ``fully schedule'', with
respect to an appointment for health care, means that the
appointment booking is completed, rather than simply requested.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
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