To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit to Congress a report on the provision of health care to veterans in Alaska through the use of non-Department of Veterans Affairs health care providers.

SA 2776. Mr. McCONNELL (for Ms. Murkowski) submitted an amendment
intended to be proposed to amendment SA 2763 proposed by Mr. Kirk (for
himself, Mr. Tester, and Ms. Mikulski) to the bill H.R. 2029, making
appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans
Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30,
2016, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as
follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:
Sec. ___.  Not later than February 1, 2016, the Secretary
of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives a report
that supplements the report required under section 4002(c) of
the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice
Improvement Act of 2015 (Public Law 114-41) and that contains
the following:
(1) A description of the changes in access, if any, of
veterans in Alaska to purchased care from the Department of
Veterans Affairs that have resulted from implementation of
section 101 of the Veterans Access, Choice, and
Accountability Act of 2014 (Public Law 113-146), including
denials of care and interruptions in the course and
continuity of care.
(2) An assessment of the performance of the Department in
providing health care under such section 101 in Alaska,
including--
(A) the performance of call center service provided to
veterans;
(B) the accuracy of call center information provided to
veterans and health care providers;
(C) whether health care providers are agreeing to provide
health care under such section 101 in each of the major
communities in Alaska;
(D) gaps in the availability of health care providers,
disaggregated by primary, specialty, subspecialty, and
behavioral health care;
(E) impediments to the provision of health care under such
section 101; and
(F) plans to mitigate those impediments.
(3) An assessment of the status of health care provider
vacancies at the VA Alaska Healthcare System as of the date
of submittal of the report under this section, including
impediments to filling those vacancies and plans to mitigate
those impediments.
(4) A description of the manner in which the Department
plans to serve the primary, specialty, and behavioral health
care needs of veterans in Alaska if the plan and
recommendations set forth in the report submitted under such
section 4002(c) are implemented, including a description of
specific strategies to be employed by the Department to
address gaps in the provision of health care to veterans and
the supply and demand of health care providers for veterans,
including the roles of tribal health providers and community
providers in addressing those gaps.
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