VA MISSION Act of 2018
Latest action. Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 516.
VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks Act of 2018 or VA MISSION Act of 2018
This bill consolidates Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) community care programs, revises other VA health care programs and facilities provisions, and makes appropriations for veterans care.
The bill establishes the Veterans Community Care Program to furnish hospital care, medical services, and extended care services through certain non-VA providers to veterans who are enrolled in the VA health care system or otherwise entitled to VA care.
The VA may enter agreements with non-VA providers to furnish veterans with care that is otherwise not feasibly available.
The VA shall: (1) establish standards for VA health care quality and for non-VA care in areas of VA expertise, (2) prohibit rehiring previously-removed VA providers, (3) provide prompt payment to providers, (4) establish opioid prescribing practices for non-VA providers, and (5) carry out the modernization or realignment of Veterans Health Administration facilities.
The Veterans Choice Program is terminated after one year.
The bill establishes: (1) the Center for Innovation for Care and Payment, and (2) the Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission.
The VA may: (1) provide care for the live donor of a transplant for a veteran, and (2) carry out a Specialty Education Loan Repayment Program and other actions to recruit health care professionals.
The VA family caregiver program is expanded.
The Office of Management and Budget shall review each enhanced-use facility lease.
The bill establishes pilot programs for medical scribes, mobile deployment teams for underserved facilities, and graduate medical education.
The bill extends VA pension reductions for Medicare-covered veterans in nursing homes.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to House without amendment, Part I" stage on May 11, 2018. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 11, 2018: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 516.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
David Roe (R-TN) introduced it on May 3, 2018, and 21 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 2 Democrats, 19 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 3, 2018, 3052 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3044 days ago, on May 11, 2018.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers