Rural Veterans Health Care Access and Quality Act of 2009
Latest action. Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 111-76.
Rural Veterans Health Care Access and Quality Act of 2009 - Removes the $44,000-per-individual limit on authorized payments by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs under the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health professionals education debt reduction program. Requires notice to potential employees of their eligibility and selection for participation in such program.
Includes VA facilities in the list of medical facilities eligible for the assignment of participants under the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program.
Requires the Director of the VA's Office of Rural Health to develop an Office five-year strategic plan.
Authorizes the use of volunteer counselors as part of the Vet Center program.
Directs the Secretary to carry out a program of teleconsultation for the provision of remote mental health and traumatic brain injury assessments in VA facilities not otherwise able to provide such assessments without contracting out or reimbursing other providers for such services.
Requires the Secretary, for each Veterans Integrated Services Network, to negotiate with each party that has contracts to provide services at more than one community-based outpatient clinic in that Network to consolidate such contracts. Directs the Secretary to designate a rural outreach coordinator at each such clinic at which not less than 50% of the veterans enrolled reside in a highly rural area. Provides for peer review of health care services and patient records within the Network.
Authorizes reimbursement for veterans' beneficiaries for air travel when it is the only practical way to reach a VA health care facility.
Directs the Secretary to carry out a pilot program on incentives for physicians who assume responsibilities of primary care and mental health services to veterans at community hospitals in health professional shortage areas.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on March 30, 2009. 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 April 22, 2009: Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 111-76.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- 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 111th Congress (2009-10), 383 of the 10,778 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.6 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?
DANIEL AKAKA (D-HI) introduced it on March 30, 2009, and 2 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 2 Democrats.
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 March 30, 2009, 6373 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 6350 days ago, on April 22, 2009.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 111th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2011 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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers