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To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a comprehensive standard for timing between referrals and appointments for care from the Department of Veterans Affairs and to submit a report with respect to that standard, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish and publish a comprehensive standard for the time between when a veteran is referred for care and when the appointment occurs, whether at a VA facility or through community providers. The Secretary must submit quarterly reports to Congress and the public showing how many referrals meet this standard, broken down by facility, type of care, and state. The bill also requires reference to existing standards of three business days for VA facility appointments and seven calendar days for community care. Annually, the Secretary must include aggregated data for the prior four quarters and describe steps being taken to improve timeliness and when full compliance is expected. All reports must be made publicly available on the Veterans Health Administration website.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
8 cosponsors
- Del. Moylan, James C. [R-GU-At Large] (R-GU)
- Rep. Dunn, Neal P. [R-FL-2] (R-FL)
- Rep. Gosar, Paul A. [R-AZ-9] (R-AZ)
- Rep. McGarvey, Morgan [D-KY-3] (D-KY)
- Rep. Panetta, Jimmy [D-CA-19] (D-CA)
- Rep. Patronis, Jimmy [R-FL-1] (R-FL)
- Rep. Rutherford, John H. [R-FL-5] (R-FL)
- Rep. Whitesides, George [D-CA-27] (D-CA)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Scott Franklin’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $53,500
- VAN SCOYOC ASSOCIATES $10,100
- ENTREPRENEUR $7,600
- APPLIED AI $6,600
- THE CASSIDY ORGANIZATION INC. $6,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Scott Franklin → · Outside spending →
Actions (3)
- Apr 27, 2026 Referred to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. · house
- Apr 6, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. · house
- Apr 6, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 6, 2026
Mr. Scott Franklin of Florida (for himself, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Patronis, and Mr. Moylan) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a comprehensive standard for timing between referrals and appointments for care from the Department of Veterans Affairs and to submit a report with respect to that standard, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Scheduling for Community Health and Easy Data to Understand for Legislators to Evaluate Services Act of 2026” or the “SCHEDULES Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE STANDARD FOR TIMING BETWEEN REFERRAL AND APPOINTMENT FOR CARE FROM DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
(a) Establishment of Standard.—
(1) In general.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall establish a comprehensive standard for timing between the date on which a referral for care for a veteran under the laws administered by the Secretary is entered into the care coordination system of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the date on which an appointment for care for the veteran occurs, whether at a facility of the Department or through care in the community.
(2) Modification.—The Secretary may modify the standard established under paragraph (1) as the appointment scheduling processes of the Department for care at a facility of the Department or through care in the community are updated.
(3) Publication.—Not later than 30 days before establishing under paragraph (1) or modifying under paragraph
(2) the comprehensive standard required under this subsection, the Secretary shall publish such standard in the Federal Register and on a publicly available internet website of the Department.
(b) Report.—
(1) In general.—Not less frequently than quarterly, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the number and percentage of referrals from the Department to facilities of the Department or providers in the community that meet the standard under subsection (a).
(2) Elements.—Each report submitted under paragraph (1) shall include the following:
(A) The number and percentage of total referrals from each facility of the Department that meet, for the quarter covered by the report—
(i) the standard under subsection (a);
(ii) with respect to referrals to a facility of the Department, the three-business- day standard for scheduling an appointment at a facility of the Department; and
(iii) with respect to referrals for care in the community, the seven-calendar-day standard for scheduling an appointment for care in the community.
(B) The number and percentage of referrals from each facility of the Department that meet each of the standards specified in subparagraph (A), disaggregated by each of the five, or more, most in-demand categories of care provided at such facility (such as mental health, cardiology, neurology, oncology, etc.).
(C) A list of all medical centers of the Department ranked from best to worst in meeting the standard under subsection (a), including a disaggregated list by State.
(3) Annually included information.—Not less frequently than annually, the Secretary shall include in the report required under paragraph (1)—
(A) aggregated data for the four-quarter period preceding the date of the report; and
(B) a description of steps taken by the Department to improve the timeliness of the provision of care by the Department and an estimate of when the Department will be fully compliant with the standard under subsection (a).
(4) Public availability.—The Secretary shall make each report required under paragraph (1) publicly available on a website of the Veterans Health Administration. <all>
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