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(Original Signature of Member)
H. R. ll
119TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs to designate medical facilities of the Department of Veterans
Affairs as innovative therapies centers of excellence, and for other pur-
poses.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. CORREA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on llllllllllllll
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to require the Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs to designate medical facilities
of the Department of Veterans Affairs as innovative
therapies centers of excellence, and for other purposes.
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Innovative Therapies
5 Centers of Excellence Act of 2025’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS DESIGNA-
2 TION OF INNOVATIVE THERAPIES CENTERS
3 OF EXCELLENCE.
4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 73 of title 38, United
5 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 7330D
6 the following new section:
7 ‘‘§ 7330E. Innovative therapies centers of excellence
8 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF CENTERS.—(1) The Sec-
9 retary, upon the recommendation of the Under Secretary
10 for Health, shall designate not less than five Department
11 medical facilities as the locations for innovative therapies
12 centers of excellence.
13 ‘‘(2) Subject to the availability of appropriations for
14 such purpose, the Secretary shall establish and operate in-
15 novative therapies centers of excellence at the locations
16 designated pursuant to paragraph (1).
17 ‘‘(b) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF FACILITIES.—
18 In designating Department medical facilities as centers of
19 excellence under subsection (a), the Secretary, upon the
20 recommendation of the Under Secretary for Health, shall
21 assure appropriate geographic distribution of such facili-
22 ties.
23 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR DESIGNATION.—(1) The
24 Secretary may not designate a Department medical facil-
25 ity as a location for a center under subsection (a) unless
26 the peer review panel established under subsection (d) has
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1 determined under that subsection that the proposal sub-
2 mitted by such facility as a location for a new center under
3 subsection (a) is among those proposals that meet the
4 highest competitive standards of scientific and clinical
5 merit.
6 ‘‘(2) The Secretary may not designate a Department
7 medical facility as a location for a center under subsection
8 (a) unless the Secretary, upon the recommendation of the
9 Under Secretary for Health, determines that the facility
10 has, or may reasonably be anticipated to develop, each of
11 the following:
12 ‘‘(A) An arrangement with an—
13 ‘‘(i) accredited medical school that provides
14 education and training in innovative therapies
15 and with which the Department medical facility
16 is affiliated under which residents receive edu-
17 cation and training in use of innovative thera-
18 pies to treat covered conditions;
19 ‘‘(ii) an accredited school of psychiatry;
20 and
21 ‘‘(iii) an accredited school of social work.
22 ‘‘(B) The ability to attract the participation of
23 scientists who are capable of ingenuity and creativity
24 in medical research efforts.
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1 ‘‘(C) An advisory committee composed of vet-
2 erans and appropriate medical and research rep-
3 resentatives of the Department medical facility and
4 of the affiliated school or schools to advise the direc-
5 tors of such facility and such center on policy mat-
6 ters pertaining to the activities of the center during
7 the period of the operation of such center.
8 ‘‘(D) The capability to conduct effectively eval-
9 uations of the activities of such center.
10 ‘‘(E) The capability to coordinate (as part of an
11 integrated national system) education, clinical, and
12 research activities within all facilities with such cen-
13 ters.
14 ‘‘(F) The capability to jointly develop a consor-
15 tium of providers with interest in treating covered
16 conditions with innovative therapies at Department
17 facilities without such centers in order to ensure bet-
18 ter access to state-of-the-art diagnosis, care, and
19 education for innovative therapies throughout the
20 medical system of the Department.
21 ‘‘(G) The capability to develop a national repos-
22 itory in the medical system of the Department for
23 the collection of data on health services delivered to
24 veterans seeking innovative therapies.
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1 ‘‘(d) PEER REVIEW PANEL.—(1) The Under Sec-
2 retary for Health shall establish a panel to assess the sci-
3 entific and clinical merit of proposals that are submitted
4 to the Secretary for the establishment of centers under
5 this section.
6 ‘‘(2)(A) The membership of the panel shall consist
7 of experts in innovative therapies.
8 ‘‘(B) Members of the panel shall serve for a period
9 of no longer than two years, except as specified in sub-
10 paragraph (C).
11 ‘‘(C) Of the members first appointed to the panel,
12 one half shall be appointed for a period of three years and
13 one half shall be appointed for a period of two years, as
14 designated by the Under Secretary at the time of appoint-
15 ment.
16 ‘‘(3) The panel shall review each proposal submitted
17 to the panel by the Under Secretary and shall submit its
18 views on the relative scientific and clinical merit of each
19 such proposal to the Under Secretary.
20 ‘‘(4) The panel shall not be subject to chapter 10 of
21 title 5.
22 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than two years
23 after the date of the enactment of this section, and annu-
24 ally thereafter, the Under Secretary of Health shall submit
25 to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and
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1 House of representatives a report on the activities of the
2 centers of excellence designated under this section during
3 the period covered by the report. Each such report shall
4 include—
5 ‘‘(1) a summary of activities carried out by the
6 centers during such period;
7 ‘‘(2) an identification of key findings made at
8 such centers during such period;
9 ‘‘(3) recommendations to improve the delivery
10 of innovative therapies to veterans; and
11 ‘‘(4) such other matters as the Under Secretary
12 determines relevant.
13 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There
14 are authorized to be appropriated $30,000,000 for each
15 fiscal year for the support of the research and education
16 activities of the centers established pursuant to subsection
17 (a). The Under Secretary for Health shall allocate to such
18 centers from other funds appropriated generally for the
19 Department medical services account and medical and
20 prosthetics research account, as appropriate, such
21 amounts as the Under Secretary for Health determines
22 appropriate.
23 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section;
24 ‘‘(1) The term ‘covered condition’ means any of
25 the following:
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1 ‘‘(A) Anxiety.
2 ‘‘(B) Bipolar disorder.
3 ‘‘(C) Chronic pain.
4 ‘‘(D) Depression.
5 ‘‘(E) Parkinson’s disease.
6 ‘‘(F) Post-traumatic stress disorder.
7 ‘‘(G) Substance use disorder.
8 ‘‘(H) Such other conditions as may be des-
9 ignated by the Under Secretary.
10 ‘‘(2) The term ‘innovative therapy’ means any
11 of the following:
12 ‘‘(A) 3,4-Methylenedioxy-methamphet-
13 amine.
14 ‘‘(B) 5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine.
15 ‘‘(C) Ibogaine.
16 ‘‘(D) Ketamine.
17 ‘‘(E) Psilocybin.
18 ‘‘(F) Such other therapies as may be des-
19 ignated by the Under Secretary.’’.
20 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections
21 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting
22 after the item relating to section 7330D the following new
23 item:
‘‘7330E. Innovative therapies centers of excellence.’’.
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