Timely Payment for Veterans' Emergency Care Act

Timely Payment for Veterans' Emergency Care Act

This bill authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to enter into contracts with an eligible entity to serve as an administrative contractor with respect to the performance of any or all of the following functions relating to providing medical care and hospital services in non-VA facilities:

• determining and making the payments required to be made to a non-VA facility;
• providing education and outreach to individuals enrolled in the patient enrollment system;
• providing consultative services to institutions, agencies, and other persons to enable them to maintain necessary fiscal records;
• communicating to non-VA facilities any information or instructions furnished to the administrative contractor by the VA; and
• performing functions relating to non-VA facility education, training, and technical assistance.

An administrative contractor that performs such payment-related functions shall implement a contractor-wide information security program.

The VA shall use claims payment error rates or similar methodology of administrative contractors in the processing or reviewing of claims in order to give such contractors an incentive to implement effective education and outreach programs for non-VA facilities.