Sponsors (9)
Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Last progress May 29, 2025 (8 months ago)
Introduced on May 29, 2025 by John J. McGuire
Requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to produce expanded annual reports for five years about who receives VA health care and benefits, what services and benefits are used, and related costs and outcomes. It also directs VA to build privacy-protected data-sharing systems so approved researchers can access anonymized VHA and VBA data to support independent analysis and oversight.
Replaces 38 U.S.C. § 7330B with a new requirement for an annual VHA report to the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees, covering the prior calendar year, for a five-year period beginning on the Act’s enactment date.
Requires each VHA annual report to include: total number of veterans receiving VHA care; chronic condition incidence rates (including TBI, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer); demographics (age, service period/length for active duty or Reserve component, and sex); detailed information on care furnished to specific groups (Post-9/11 Global Operations veterans; veterans with mental health conditions including TBI and suicidal ideation; polytrauma; spinal cord injury/dysfunction; service-connected disabilities including average VA cost; homeless veterans including age, estimated locations, duration, and service periods); long-term care details (demographics/illnesses, average copayments, types of care, and State home funding levels); enrollment and timing information for the §1705 patient enrollment system; number of visits to VA facilities; summaries of types of care (inpatient, outpatient, prescriptions, mental health, primary care); percentages of care for service-connected vs non-service-connected conditions; prescription dispensing channels and average prescription term; inpatient average length of stay and average cost to veteran; diagnostic services breakdowns; veteran reliance on VHA (including by age and by inpatient/outpatient); quality measures (hospital-acquired infection incidence and satisfaction by VA vs non-VA facility); summaries of care required/authorized under specified laws/authorities (VA MISSION Act of 2018, Honoring our PACT Act of 2022, 38 U.S.C. § 1781 with average cost by age, and 38 U.S.C. § 1703); copayment collections breakdown; Medical Care Collections Fund data; physician staffing/salary/workload metrics; other medical professional workload/time metrics; facility management metrics (construction/renovation dates, square footage, maintenance/repair costs, occupancy for inpatient facilities, outpatient visits by type); major capital spending plans including equipment purchases over $20,000; priority-group utilization and cost estimates; and VA-facility vs non-VA-facility care percentages and year-to-year changes.
Requires the Secretary to develop and carry out a VHA data sharing system that gives eligible researchers access to aggregated, anonymized data about veterans and other individuals receiving VA-administered health care, and to consider the CMS Qualified Entity Program in building the system.
Requires the VHA data sharing system to include (where applicable) data types available under the Medicare Data Sharing for Performance Measurement Program, and to include specified VA-related datasets: enrollment/priority group/service-connected disability data; VA-facility visit data (provider types, diagnostic codes, outpatient visit dates, inpatient admission/discharge dates); and non-VA facility insurance-claim data (insurer provider numbers, payments by VA to veterans, and payments by veterans).
Defines certain terms for the VHA report section by reference to 38 U.S.C. § 1701 (hospital care, medical services, nursing home care, facilities of the Department, non-Department facilities).
Primary effects: Veterans and their families could benefit from improved oversight and evaluation of VA programs because linked and transparent data can identify gaps, costs, and outcomes more clearly. VA clinical and benefits staff will need to produce expanded reports and build or adapt systems to support data-sharing, increasing workload and likely IT and privacy implementation work. Approved external researchers and academic groups will gain access to anonymized VHA and VBA datasets for independent analyses that could inform policy, quality improvement, and public accountability. Privacy protections and anonymization are required, but creating secure data-sharing systems will require VA technical effort and policy development.
Operational and budgetary impacts: The legislation increases VA responsibilities for data preparation, anonymization, and secure researcher access. The text does not specify new funding, so implementation could require VA to reallocate resources or seek appropriations. Expected benefits include better evidence for program improvements and oversight; risks include implementation complexity, potential delays while systems are built, and the need for careful privacy safeguards to avoid re‑identification.
Stakeholder implications: Oversight bodies and Congress gain more detailed information for oversight and policymaking. Researchers gain access to richer datasets under controlled conditions. Veterans’ privacy protections are explicitly required, but public trust will depend on the strength of VA’s anonymization and access controls.