§1706A Remediation of Medical Service Lines

Summary

When the Secretary finds under section 1703(e)(1) that a VA medical service line is not meeting the Secretary’s quality standards, the Secretary must send Congress an assessment within 30 days. The assessment must say why the problem happened and give a plan with specific steps and deadlines to fix it. The plan can include things like adding staff or temporary mobile teams; special hiring incentives, including the Education Debt Reduction Program and recruitment, relocation, or retention pay; using direct hiring authority; better training; new equipment; facility changes; and any other actions the Secretary thinks are needed. The report must also name the people at the Veterans Health Administration Central Office, the facility, and the Veterans Integrated Service Network office who will watch progress. Within 180 days after that assessment, the Secretary must send Congress a progress report and any extra help the Secretary will give to meet quality standards. At least once each year, the Secretary must send Congress an analysis of the fixes taken and their costs for each service line reviewed in the past year, report on progress in meeting the Secretary’s quality and timeliness goals, say what else is being done, and publish that analysis on the Department’s website.