§1704 Preventive health services: annual report

Summary

By October 31 each year, the Secretary must send a report to the Senate and House Veterans’ Affairs Committees about preventive health services for the previous fiscal year. The report must describe Department programs and activities for prevention. It must explain efforts to teach veterans about staying healthy, to give preventive screenings and other clinical services (what resources were used and how many veterans were reached), and to give each recommended adult immunization when it is due. It must say how the Department met the needs of particular groups (including veterans with service‑connected disabilities, older veterans, low‑income veterans, women, institutionalized veterans, and veterans at risk for mental illness). The report must also cover how services were coordinated with the Medical and Prosthetic Research Service and the National Center for Preventive Health, how prevention was included in training for students, residents, and staff, how the VA worked with other government and private partners, what research was done on long‑term links between screening, treatment, and health outcomes, and the programs’ cost effectiveness and how costs and benefits (including quality of life) were measured. The report must also list research done using VA staff or resources, stating the funding sources, publications (with authors), any partners, and grant applications submitted (with the funder and whether a decision is pending or was denied). Finally, it must account for money spent by the National Center for Preventive Health under section 7318.