Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Improving Quality of Care Within the Department of Veterans Affairs Act of 2013”.
Improving Quality of Care Within the Department of Veterans Affairs Act of 2013
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure the Department of Veterans Affairs has an up-to-date policy on reporting of cases of infectious diseases, to require an independent assessment of the Veterans Integrated Service Networks and medical centers of the Department, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Requirement for Department of Veterans Affairs policy on reporting cases of infectious diseases at facilities of the Department
In general— Subchapter II of chapter 73 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
“7330B. Reporting of infectious diseases
“(a) Reporting—The Secretary shall ensure that the Department has in effect an up-to-date policy on reporting a notifiable infectious disease diagnosed at a facility under the jurisdiction of the Secretary in accordance with the provisions of State and local law in effect where such facility is located.
“(b) Notifiable infectious disease—For purposes of this section, a notifiable infectious disease is any infectious disease that is—
“(1) on the list of nationally notifiable diseases published by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; or
“(2) covered by a provision of law of a State that requires the reporting of infectious diseases.
“(c) Performance measures—The Secretary shall develop performance measures to assess whether and to what degree the directors of Veterans Integrated Service Networks and Department medical centers are complying with the policy required by subsection (a).”
Clerical amendment— The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 73 of such title is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 7330A the following new item:
Sec. 3 Independent assessment of the Veterans Integrated Service Networks and medical centers of Department of Veterans Affairs
Contract—
In general— The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall seek to enter into a contract with an independent third-party to perform the services covered by this section.
Timing— The Secretary shall seek to enter into the contract described in paragraph (1) not later than 270 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Independent study—
In general— Under a contract between the Secretary and an independent third-party under this section, the third party shall carry out a study—
to assess the organizational structures of medical centers of the Department of Veterans Affairs; and
to improve succession planning among key leadership roles at Veterans Integrated Service Networks and medical centers of the Department.
Matters studied and proposed— In carrying out the study, the third party shall—
assess whether organizational structure of the medical centers of the Department is effective for the furnishing of medical services, addressing issues that arise regarding the furnishing of medical services, and addressing standard business operations;
propose one organizational chart for Department medical centers with a common set of base position descriptions;
propose a base set of medical positions that should be filled to ensure that the health care provided to veterans by the Department is of good quality; and
identify which key leadership positions at Veterans Integrated Service Networks and Department medical centers should have succession plans and propose how to implement such plans.
Report— Not later than 90 days after the date on which the third party completes the study under this section, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives a report on the results of such study.