Sponsor
Shri Thanedar
Representative · D-MI
Representative · D-MI
The bill improves continuity and access to mental-health care for transitioning service members by letting them retain DoD providers, get priority at military facilities, and have records transferred to VA, but it shifts costs and administrative burdens onto the VA and DoD and may create appointment competition and occasional disruptions to therapeutic relationships.
Veterans transitioning from DoD to VA care can keep their DoD mental-health provider and have DoD treatment records transferred into the VA electronic medical record, preserving continuity of care and helping VA clinicians treat them faster.
Transitioning veterans and other covered individuals receive the same priority at military medical treatment facilities as active service members, reducing wait times for care during the transition period.
The VA must reimburse DoD for services VA would otherwise provide, lowering cost barriers for veterans who prefer or need DoD care during transition and enabling that care to occur without out-of-pocket cost shifts to those veterans.
Reimbursing DoD for care shifts additional costs onto the VA budget, which could reduce funds available for other VA services and programs.
Giving transitioning veterans priority access at military facilities may increase competition for appointments with active-duty beneficiaries and could delay care for some service members.
If a DoD provider leaves or a veteran relocates, being required to move care to a VA provider can disrupt ongoing therapeutic relationships and continuity of treatment.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Allows transitioning DoD patients with mental health diagnoses to keep DoD mental health providers during transition to VA care, with VA reimbursing DoD and receiving medical records.
Official title: To authorize an individual who is transitioning from receiving treatment furnished by the Secretary of Defense to treatment furnished by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to continue receiving treatment from such individual's mental health care provider of the Department of Defense, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 26, 2025 by Shri Thanedar · Last progress September 26, 2025
Allows service members and other individuals with a diagnosed mental health condition who are enrolling in or already enrolled in the VA patient enrollment system and transitioning from Department of Defense (DoD) care to elect to keep receiving treatment from their DoD mental health provider during the transition to VA care. The VA must reimburse DoD for those services, require transfer of medical records into the VA electronic medical record when the patient completes transition, and provide options if the DoD provider leaves or the patient relocates.