Bill > S4229

This bill, also known 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," requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a clear and comprehensive standard for how long veterans should wait between being referred for care and actually receiving an appointment, whether at a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facility or through community care. The Secretary must publish this standard in the Federal Register and on the VA's website at least 30 days before it takes effect or is changed. Furthermore, the Secretary is mandated to submit quarterly reports to Congress detailing how many referrals meet this new standard, including specific breakdowns for appointments within VA facilities (a three-business-day standard) and in the community (a seven-calendar-day standard), disaggregated by the most in-demand care categories and ranked by VA medical center performance. Annually, these reports must also include aggregated data and a description of the VA's efforts to improve timeliness and an estimate of when full compliance with the standard is expected, with all reports made publicly available online.