Veteran Overmedication Prevention Act of 2017
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Veteran Overmedication Prevention Act of 2017
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to contract with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to review the deaths of all covered veterans who died by suicide during the last five years, regardless of whether information relating to such deaths has been reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A "covered veteran" is any veteran who received VA hospital care or medical services during the five-year period preceding the veteran's death.
The review shall include:
the total numbers of veterans who died by suicide, violent death, or accidental death;
the percentage of such veterans with combat experience or related trauma;
each veteran's age, gender, race, and ethnicity;
a list of medications and substances prescribed to such veterans;
a summary of medical diagnoses that led to such prescriptions in cases of anxiety and depressive disorders;
the number of instances in which such a veteran was concurrently on multiple prescribed medications;
the number of such veterans who were not taking any prescribed medication;
the percentage of such veterans treated for anxiety or depressive disorders who received a non-medication first-line treatment compared to the percentage who received medication only;
descriptions of how the VA determines and updates clinical practice guidelines for prescribing medications and of VA efforts to maintain appropriate staffing levels for mental health professionals;
an analysis of VA's use of systematically measuring pain scores during clinical encounters and how that relates to the number of veterans concurrently on multiple prescribed medications;
identification of VA medical facilities with markedly high prescription rates and suicide rates for treated veterans;
an analysis of VA programs that collaborate with state Medicaid agencies and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services;
an analysis of VA medical center collaboration with medical examiners' offices or local jurisdictions to determine veteran mortality and cause of death;
identification of a best practice model to collect and share veteran death certificate data;
The summary continues for 4 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on May 1, 2017. 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 1, 2017: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
- 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 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?
JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ) introduced it on May 1, 2017, and 10 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 3 Democrats, 7 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 1, 2017, 3466 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3466 days ago, on May 1, 2017.
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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers