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SUMMARY

H.R. 3447

 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS HEALTH

CARE PROGRAMS ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2001 

H.R. 3447 would: 

1. Enhance eligibility and benefits for the Employee Incentive Scholarship and Education Debt Reduction Programs by enabling VA nurses to pursue advanced degrees while continuing to care for veterans, in order to improve recruitment and retention of nurses within the VA health care system.            
   

2. Mandate that VA provide Saturday premium pay to title 5/title 38 hybrid employees.  Such hybrid-authority employees include licensed vocational nurses, pharmacists, certified or registered respiratory therapists, physical therapists, and occupational therapists.   
   

3. Require VA to develop a nationwide policy on staffing standards to ensure that veterans are provided with safe and high quality care, taking into consideration the numbers and skill mix required of staff in specific health care settings. Require a report on the use of mandatory overtime by licensed nursing staff and nursing assistants in each VA health care facility; include in report a description of the amount of mandatory overtime used by facilities. 
   

4. Change reporting responsibility of the Director of the Nursing Service to report to the Under Secretary for Health.  
   

5. Recompute annuities for part-time service performed by certain health care professionals before April 7, 1986.   
   

6. Establish a 12-member National Commission on VA Nursing that would assess legislative and organizational policy changes to enhance the recruitment and retention of nurses by the Department and the future of the nursing profession within the Department, and recommend legislative and organizational policy changes to enhance the recruitment and retention of nursing personnel in the Department. 
   

7. Authorize service dogs to be provided by VA to a veteran suffering from spinal cord injuries or dysfunction, other diseases causing physical immobility, hearing loss or other types of disabilities susceptible to improvement or enhanced functioning in activities of daily living through employment of a service dog.   
   

8. Modify VA’s system of determining nonservice-connected veterans’ “ability to pay” for VA health care services by introducing (as an upper income bound contrasted with current income limits) the “Low Income Housing Limits” employed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), used by HUD to determine family income thresholds for housing assistance.  This index is adjusted for all Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs), and is updated periodically by HUD to reflect economic changes within the SMSAs.  Would retain current-law means test national income threshold, but reduce co-payments by 80 percent for near-poor veterans who require acute VA hospital inpatient care.  
   

9. Strengthen the mandate for VA to maintain capacity in specialized medical programs for veterans by requiring VA and each of its Veterans Integrated Service Networks to maintain the national capacity in certain specialized health care programs for veterans (those with serious mental illness, including substance use disorders, and spinal cord, brain injured and blinded veterans; veterans who need prosthetics and sensory aids); and extend capacity reporting requirement for 3 years. 
   

10. Establish a program of chiropractic services in each Veterans Integrated Service Network and require VA to provide training and educational materials on chiropractic services to VA health care providers.  Authorize VA to employ chiropractors as federal employees and obtain chiropractic services through contracts; create a VA advisory committee on chiropractic health care.  
    

11. Require the Office of Research Compliance and Assurance, which conducts oversight and compliance reviews of VA research and development, be funded by the Medical Care appropriation, rather than the Medical and Prosthetic Research appropriation. 
    

12. Authorize $28,300,000 for major medical facility construction project at the Miami, Florida VA Medical Center.  
    

13. Require Secretary of Veterans Affairs to assess all special telephone services made available to veterans, such as “help lines” and “hotlines.” Assessment would include geographical coverage, availability, utilization, effectiveness, management, coordination, staffing, cost, and a survey of veterans to measure effectiveness of these telephone services and future needs.  A report to Congress would be required within 1 year of enactment. 
    

14. Extend expiring authorities for VA to collect proceeds from veterans’ health insurance policies for care provided for non-service connected care. 
    

15. Provide authority for Secretary to study, and then if determined feasible, obtain personal emergency-notification and response systems for service-disabled veterans. 
    

16. Extend VA’s authority to provide health care for those who served in the Persian Gulf until December 31, 2002.