S. 702 — Veterans Mental Health and Addiction Therapy Quality of Care Act

This section directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, not later than 90 days after enactment, to enter into an agreement with an independent organization to conduct a study comparing the quality of mental health and addiction therapy care provided by Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) providers to that provided by non-VA providers across modalities such as telehealth, inpatient, intensive outpatient, outpatient, and residential treatment. The organization must submit a report with study results to the congressional Veterans' Affairs Committees and publish it on a public website not later than 18 months after entering the agreement. The report must assess (1) improvements in health outcomes from treatment start to completion, including symptom scores and suicide risk using evidence-based scales such as the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale; (2) use of evidence-based practices by VA and non-VA providers, including American Society of Addiction Medicine criteria; (3) gaps in coordination between VA and non-VA providers, including patient health record sharing; (4) implementation of veteran-centric care, including patient satisfaction and provider competency with veterans' unique needs; (5) integrated care for veterans with co-occurring conditions; (6) monitoring of health outcomes throughout treatment and at regular intervals for up to three years post-treatment; and (7) average time to initiate services, including from initial contact to first service.