§7310A Annual Reports on Women’s Health

Summary

By December 1 each year, the Chief Officer for Women’s Health must send a report to Congress (the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations and Veterans’ Affairs). The report must say what the Office did in the past fiscal year to improve care for women veterans, list any problems found and plans to fix them, and explain the money and staff the Office has and whether more are needed. It must analyze how easy it is for women to get gender-specific care through non-VA providers, giving data like average wait time from a veteran’s preferred date to the completed appointment, average driving time, and reasons appointments could not be scheduled. The report must also review how the VA uses different care setups (general clinics, shared spaces, and women’s health centers), including how many facilities use each model by VA region and State, how choices are made, plans or investments to change models, and whether facilities can be changed with planned or minor work. It must list staffing numbers for women’s care (centers, teams, gynecologists, designated providers, recent mini-residency graduates and next-year training slots, and providers with enough cases to keep skills). Finally, it must cover accessibility and care options such as wheelchair access for each service, access to women mental‑health and primary‑care providers, and clothing sizes like gowns and pajamas. Definitions: - Appropriate congressional committees: the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations and Veterans’ Affairs. - Gender-specific services: mammography, obstetric care, gynecological care, and other services the Secretary allows.