To require a report on access to medical services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs to veterans who live in remote rural areas.

1. Adds Sec. 227. (a) Report on Access to Medical Services Provided by Department of Veterans Affairs to Veterans in Remote Rural Areas.--Not later than six months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report setting forth the following: on page 46, between lines 2 and 3

   Adds a sectionPrinted page

   Inserted: Sec. 227. (a) Report on Access to Medical Services Provided by Department of Veterans Affairs to Veterans in Remote Rural Areas.--Not later than six months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report setting forth the following:

   Inserted: (1) A description of the following:

   Inserted: (A) The unique challenges and costs faced by veterans in remote rural areas of contiguous and non-contiguous States when obtaining medical services from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

   Inserted: (B) The need to improve access to locally-administered care for veterans who reside in remote rural areas.

   Inserted: (C) The need to fund alternative sources of medical services--

   Inserted: (i) in areas where facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs are not accessible to veterans without leaving such areas; and

   Inserted: (ii) in cases in which receipt of medical services by a veteran in a facility of the Department requires transportation of such veteran by air due to geographic and infrastructural constraints.

   Inserted: (2) An assessment of the potential for increasing local access to medical services for veterans in remote rural areas of contiguous and non-contiguous States through strategic partnerships with other government and local private health care providers.

   Inserted: (b) Appropriate Committees of Congress Defined.--In this section, the term "appropriate committees of Congress" means--

   Inserted: (1) the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the House of Representatives; and

   Inserted: (2) the Subcommittees referred to in section 407.

   Original wording

   On page 46, between lines 2 and 3, insert the following:

Read automatically from the Congressional Record. Check the original before relying on it.

As printed