Failing VA Medical Center Recovery Act

VA Medical Center Recovery Act

(Sec. 2) This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to publish in the Federal Register and on a publicly available VA Internet website a compilation of key health metrics for each VA medical center.

The VA shall: (1) determine on a semiannual basis whether each medical center is satisfactory or underperforming; and (2) upon a determination of underperformance, send a rapid deployment team to the center to ensure that it achieves satisfactory performance as quickly as practicable.

A rapid deployment team shall:

• identify the areas of the medical center that require improvement and whether the center follows directives and best practices;
• establish a performance remediation plan;
• review the status of any disciplinary actions taken at the center, any recommendations made by the VA Inspector General, and any Government Accountability Office findings; and
• provide appropriate training to the director and staff.

The Inspector General of the VA shall prioritize investigations regarding underperforming medical centers.

The Office of Accountability Review shall prioritize investigations of whistleblower retaliation regarding underperforming medical centers.

(Sec. 3) The VA shall seek to enter into partnerships with recognized schools of nursing to provide undergraduate nursing students enrolled in such schools with standardized training with respect to:

• the culture of the military and veterans;
• post-traumatic stress disorder;
• traumatic brain injury;
• amputation and assistive devices;
• environmental, chemical, and toxic exposure;
• substance use disorders;
• military sexual trauma;
• suicide;
• homelessness;
• serious illness at the end of life; and
• federal benefits, services, and resources for veterans.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov