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HR6595119th CongressWALLET

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.

Sponsored By: Representative Schmidt, Derek [R-KS-2]

In Committee

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.

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  • 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.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

4 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.

More VA care at military facilities

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 add a facility coordinator, monitoring with performance goals, IT and records integration, billing and workload rules, and a public list of sharing agreements. The agencies would must send completed plans to Congress within 30 days and brief committees on progress within one year, including patient counts, cross-credentialed providers, and costs.

Defines covered facilities and terms

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 definitions would take effect on enactment and last through September 30, 2028.

Defense and VA rules end 2028

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.

Veteran choice and eligibility protected

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 take effect on enactment and remain through September 30, 2028.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Schmidt, Derek [R-KS-2]

KS • R

Cosponsors

  • Rep. Elfreth, Sarah [D-MD-3]

    MD • D

    Sponsored 12/10/2025

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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