Department of Defense-Department of Veterans Affairs Health Resources Access Improvement Act of 2001

This bill, introduced in 2001, aimed to improve the efficiency of healthcare delivery for military members and veterans by requiring the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to share medical resources and management. It proposed a five-year demonstration project at five locations to test the integration of military and veterans' health facilities under a unified management system.

For citizens, particularly veterans and active-duty personnel, this legislation was designed to streamline access to care and reduce administrative hurdles by allowing the two departments to operate joint medical facilities and graduate medical education programs. Additionally, the bill sought to increase the VA’s capacity to provide care by repealing existing limits on the number of hospital beds the department could maintain. While the bill was introduced and referred to committees, it did not progress further to become law.