S. 5361 — MMU Rural Expansion Act of 2026

This section directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to designate the head of an existing Department office as program owner of the Mobile Medical Unit Program. The designee must oversee unit deployments, coordinate with medical center leadership, manage data collection, identify funding and procurement sources, and integrate the units into Veterans Health Administration access-to-care strategies.

This section requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a nationwide inventory and capability assessment of the Department's mobile medical units. The assessment must cover the total number and types of units; their age, condition, readiness, and maintenance needs; current locations and deployment site accessibility; usage frequency and services provided; patient-level data; fleet accessibility and wheelchair lift capability; and unmet needs or access barriers the units could address.

This section requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, within 180 days of enactment, to assess the feasibility and advisability of requiring certain Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers to deploy mobile medical units at least once per year to rural or underserved areas. The assessment must incorporate findings from the nationwide inventory under section 3, propose criteria for selecting centers and areas, list services that could be provided, estimate the number of veterans served, evaluate deployment frequency based on access and cost, and be submitted to the Senate and House Veterans’ Affairs Committees within 90 days of completion.

This section requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit a report within 180 days of enactment to the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees identifying gaps and opportunities for expanding mobile medical unit use in rural or underserved areas, areas with high rural veteran populations, barriers to their deployment including staffing and funding, ways to engage veterans service organizations on suitable locations, responses to a December 2023 GAO report on mobile medical units, and recommendations for legislative or administrative actions.