# 119-hr-6595: To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to improve the availability of care for veterans at facilities of the Department of Defense.

119-hr-6595, To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to improve the availability of care for veterans at facilities of the Department of Defense., is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Schmidt, Derek [R-KS-2] (R-KS); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-26).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6595
- As of: 2026-09-26
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-6595
- Congress: 119
- Title: To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to improve the availability of care for veterans at facilities of the Department of Defense.
- Status: in_committee
- Introduced: 2025-12-10
- Sponsor: Rep. Schmidt, Derek [R-KS-2] (R-KS)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-26

## Summary

**Expand veterans' access to care by making DoD and VA share medical capacity and staff.** This bill would require joint action plans at military and VA medical facilities to cross-credential providers, use excess capacity, integrate IT and billing, and set oversight and complaint procedures. - Enrolled veterans: Veterans enrolled in VA health care could get more local options where a military medical treatment facility has identified excess capacity, and they would have a secure, confidential complaint channel to report care concerns. - Providers and facilities: DoD and VA would be asked to cross-credential and privilege clinicians, expedite VA staff access to installations, designate a facility coordinator, publish sharing agreements online, and track performance, safety incidents, referrals, and workload attribution. - Oversight and reporting: The plan would require the agencies to submit action plans to congressional committees within 30 days after completion and brief those committees within one year with patient counts, numbers of cross-credentialed providers, costs and reimbursements, IT integration progress, and safety incident data.

## Cosponsors (1)

- Rep. Elfreth, Sarah [D-MD-3] (D-MD), 2025-12-10T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- More VA care at military facilities: benefit, medium. This bill would require the Defense Department and VA to make local action plans so enrolled veterans can get more care at covered facilities. Plans would speed access, let VA staff work on military sites, cross-credential providers, and use military facility space with excess capacity. Plans would…
- Defines covered facilities and terms: benefit, medium. This bill would define key terms used for the DoD–VA plans. It would say which committees are "appropriate committees of Congress," define "covered facility" as a military medical treatment facility or a VA medical center, define "enrolled veteran," and define a DoD–VA "sharing agreement." These de…
- Veteran choice and eligibility protected: benefit, low. This bill would say that neither Defense nor VA could force a veteran to get care at a military facility. It would also bar treating military medical treatment facilities as VA facilities when checking a veteran's eligibility for non-VA care under the VA access standards. Those protections would ta…
- Defense and VA rules end 2028: cost, medium. This bill would make the section's DoD–VA planning and protections take effect on enactment and end on September 30, 2028. After that date, the requirements and protections in this section would no longer apply unless renewed by Congress.

## Related bills

- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1229: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4206: CONNECT for Health Act of 2025
- 119-hr-2548: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act
- 119-hr-3184: PFAS Alternatives Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-6595 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/6595)

## Related
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-1229: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1229)
- [119-hr-4206: CONNECT for Health Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4206)
- [119-hr-2548: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2548)
- [119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1262)
- [119-hr-3184: PFAS Alternatives Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3184)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6595 (as of 2026-09-26).