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To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to assign physicians of the Department of Veterans Affairs to temporarily serve as traveling physicians in the territories and possessions of the United States, and for other purposes.
Summary
The bill authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to assign physicians to temporarily serve as traveling physicians in U.S. territories and possessions, including American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These traveling physicians can serve for periods of up to one year at a time at VA facilities or other approved facilities in these locations. The bill requires traveling physicians to coordinate care with non-VA medical providers to ensure high-quality care for veterans. To attract physicians to these assignments, the bill authorizes the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide relocation or retention bonuses in addition to regular compensation. The bill also makes conforming changes to related VA physician compensation provisions.
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)
- Sen. Sheehy, Tim [R-MT] (R-MT)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI] (D-HI)
Actions (2)
- Apr 15, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. · senate
- Apr 15, 2026 Introduced in Senate
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 15 (legislative day, April 14), 2026
Mr. Sheehy (for himself and Ms. Hirono) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to assign physicians of the Department of Veterans Affairs to temporarily serve as traveling physicians in the territories and possessions of the United States, 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 “Territorial Response and Access to Veterans’ Essential Lifecare Act” or the “TRAVEL Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS ASSIGNMENT OF TRAVELING PHYSICIANS TO SERVE TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS.
(a) In General.—Subchapter I of chapter 74 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section: “Sec. 7415. Traveling physicians
“(a) Assignment.—
“(1) In general.—The Secretary may assign a physician appointed under section 7401 of this title to serve as a traveling physician for a period of not more than one year at a time.
“(2) Locations.—A physician assigned to serve as a traveling physician under this section may be assigned to provide health care to veterans residing in American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, or any other territory or possession of the United States at facilities of the Department or other approved facilities located in such territory or possession.
“(3) Multiple physicians.—The Secretary may assign multiple physicians to serve as traveling physicians under this section and may assign each such physician to serve in a specific territory or possession.
“(b) Coordination of Care.—In providing care under this section, traveling physicians shall coordinate with non-Department medical providers to the extent practicable and necessary to ensure high quality and coordinated care for veterans receiving hospital care and medical services (as those terms are defined in section 1701 of this title).
“(c) Pay.—
“(1) In general.—In addition to pay under section 7431 of this title, the Secretary shall provide a relocation or retention bonus to traveling physicians under this section.
“(2) Nature of bonus.—The relocation or retention bonus provided under paragraph (1) shall be substantially similar to a relocation or retention bonus offered under section 7410(a) of this title, as the Secretary considers appropriate.”.
(b) Clerical Amendment.—The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 7414 the following new item:
“7415. Traveling physicians.”.
(c) Technical and Conforming Amendments.—Title 38, United States Code, is further amended as follows:
(1) In section 7410(a)(1), by—
(A) striking “retention allowances” and inserting “retention bonuses”; and
(B) striking the second comma after “section 7401(1) of this title”.
(2) In section 7431(e)(5)(B), by striking “retention allowances” and inserting “retention bonuses”. <all>
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