What does Preamble of SCHEDULES Act of 2026 do?

This bill requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a comprehensive standard for the timing between referrals and appointments for care within the Department of Veterans Affairs. The bill also mandates the Secretary to submit a report related to this established standard. The bill's stated purpose is to address timing issues in veteran healthcare referrals and appointments.

What does SHORT TITLE. of SCHEDULES Act of 2026 do?

This bill is formally titled the Scheduling for Community Health and Easy Data to Understand for Legislators to Evaluate Services Act of 2026.

What does ESTABLISHMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE STANDARD FOR TIMING BETWEEN of SCHEDULES Act of 2026 do?

This section requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a comprehensive standard for the timing between referrals and appointments for veteran care. The Secretary can modify the standard as appointment scheduling processes are updated. The standard must be published in the Federal Register and on a publicly available website at least 30 days before it is established or modified. The Secretary must submit quarterly reports to Congress detailing the number and percentage of referrals meeting the established standard. These reports must include data on referrals to both Department facilities and community providers, comparing them to three-business-day and seven-calendar-day standards, respectively. Reports must also disaggregate data by care category (e.g., mental health, cardiology) and rank medical centers by their performance in meeting the standard. Annually, the reports must include aggregated data for the preceding four quarters and a description of steps taken to improve timeliness, along with an estimate of when full compliance will be achieved. The reports must be publicly available on a website of the Veterans Health Administration.

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SCHEDULES Act of 2026

Last updated: 4/6/2026 · Introduced: 4/6/2026

Author: Scott Franklin (R-FL)

TL;DR (AI)

The bill mandates the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to create and maintain a standard for the timeliness of referrals and appointments for veteran healthcare.
The Veterans Health Administration must publicly report quarterly data on referral timeliness, disaggregated by care category and medical center performance, with annual reports detailing improvement efforts and compliance timelines.
The established standard for referral timing can be modified as scheduling processes evolve, and must be published publicly before implementation or changes.

119th Congressin committeeS. 4229(In Committee)Official page

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Includes provisions on preamble, short title., and 1 more.

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