Description:
H.R. 3530 would require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to assess and report on whether its medical centers continually verify that its medical staff meets requirements for professional licenses, registrations, and educational achievements. On the basis of information from VA, CBO estimates that the department would hire three full-time employees at an average compensation of $100,000 to conduct annual audits and prepare reports to the Congress. Those salaries and expenses would cost $2 million over the 2020-2024 period, CBO estimates. The bill also would require VA to biannually train some employees to verify that the medical staff have met the credentialing requirements. Under current law, VA conducts one-time training for employees responsible for reviewing and validating the credentials of health care professionals of the department. Using information from VA, CBO estimates that the biannual training would cost less than $500,000 over the 2020-2024 period to pay for an additional two hours of work for about 300 employees each year. In addition, the bill would codify various practices of the department regarding monitoring, reviewing, and reporting credentialing requirements for health care professionals. CBO estimates that those provisions would not affect the federal budget. In total, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 3530 would cost $2 million over the 2020-2024 period; that spending would be subject to the availability of appropriations.
