Veterans Mental Health and Addiction Therapy Quality of Care Act
This bill, titled the Veterans Mental Health and Addiction Therapy Quality of Care Act, would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to hire an independent, outside organization within 90 days of enactment to conduct a comprehensive study comparing the quality of mental health and addiction treatment provided by VA providers versus non-VA providers. The study would cover multiple care settings (telehealth, inpatient, intensive outpatient, outpatient, and residential treatment) and would culminate in a public report due within 18 months of the agreement. The report would be submitted to Congress and published on a public website. The goal is to evaluate health outcomes, use of evidence-based practices, care coordination, veteran-centered care, integrated treatment for co-occurring conditions, ongoing monitoring, and timeliness of service initiation, with a focus on improving care for veterans.
Key Points
- 1Requires the VA to contract with an independent, objective organization to study quality of care differences between VA-provided mental health/addiction therapy and non-VA providers across various modalities (telehealth, in-patient, intensive outpatient, out-patient, and residential treatment).
- 2The organization must publish a final report for Congress and make it publicly available on a website, within 18 months after entering into the contract.
- 3The report must assess:
- 4- Health outcomes from start of treatment to completion, including symptom scores and suicide risk using evidence-based scales (e.g., Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale).
- 5- Whether VA and non-VA providers use evidence-based practices, including criteria from the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
- 6- Gaps in coordination between VA and non-VA providers and issues in sharing patient health records.
- 7- Veteran-centric care, including patient satisfaction and provider competency regarding veterans’ unique needs.
- 8- Whether veterans with co-occurring conditions receive integrated, holistic care.
- 9- Ongoing monitoring of health outcomes throughout treatment and for up to three years post-treatment.
- 10- Timeliness of initiating services, including the time from initial contact to first service.
- 11The bill designates an independent, outside organization rather than VA to conduct the study, with results publicly accessible.
- 12No specific funding authorization is included in the text; the bill envisions entering into an agreement with the outside organization and imposing reporting requirements.