H.R. 6038

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6038 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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.
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