§1704 Preventive Health Services: Annual Report

Summary

By October 31 each year, the Secretary must send a report to the Veterans’ Affairs committees in the Senate and House of Representatives about preventive health services. The report must describe the Department’s programs and actions from the last fiscal year. It must cover education on health promotion and disease prevention; preventive screenings and clinical services (including the types of resources used and how many veterans were served); and how the Department gave each adult vaccine recommended on the adult immunization schedule when it was due. It must also explain how services were aimed at specific groups (for example, veterans with service-connected disabilities, elderly veterans, low-income veterans, women veterans, institutionalized veterans, and veterans at risk for mental illness), how services were coordinated with the Medical and Prosthetic Research Service and the National Center for Preventive Health, how services were included in training for medical students, residents, and staff, how the Department worked with other government and private groups, what research was done on long-term links between screening, treatment, and health outcomes, and the cost effectiveness and how costs and benefits (including quality of life) were measured. The report must also list research work done using Department people, money, equipment, or space, naming the funding sources, related publications and authors, any government or private partners, and any funding applications submitted that are pending or were denied (including the funding source applied for). Finally, it must provide an accounting of funds spent that period by the National Center for Preventive Health under section 7318.