No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section states congressional findings on the intent of the VA MISSION Act of 2018 to expand veterans' access to community care, including mental health and extended care services, without using eligibility standards to limit options. It notes that many veterans lack nearby VA facilities, that the Department is restricting community mental health access, and that no veteran should wait 30 days for such services.
This section expands the Veterans Community Care Program to require the Department of Veterans Affairs to furnish residential mental health or substance-use services through non-Department providers when a covered veteran meets priority admission criteria for a Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program but the Department cannot accommodate the admission or cannot provide the services within its specialty-care access standards. It also establishes minimum State licensing and accreditation standards for such providers, with waiver authority when no compliant alternative exists, and directs the Secretary to amend access standards within 90 days to ensure mental health care access is no more restrictive than specialty-care standards.
This section prohibits the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from determining a veteran ineligible for care or services under section 1703 solely because providers cannot meet applicable wait times or access standards. It requires the Secretary to allow a covered veteran to elect the preferred option when multiple care options are available.
This section requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to include specified data in each annual review of the Veterans Community Care Program conducted after enactment. The data must cover the number of care or services requests, approvals, and denials; the number of denied appeals and their final decisions; the eligibility criteria under which each veteran qualified; and separate figures for mental health requests and emergency care authorizations, including whether transportation or further hospital care was required.
This section requires that any modification by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to the conditions under which care must be provided through the Veterans Community Care Program under section 1703(d) of title 38, United States Code—including changes to designated access standards or eligibility criteria—take effect only after enactment of a joint resolution approving the modification.