Sec. 732. Interagency working group on the provision of mental health services to members of the National Guard and the Reserves
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Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall, in consultation with the Secretaries of the military departments, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, convene an interagency working group to review and recommend collaborative approaches to improving the provision of mental health services to members of the National Guard and the Reserves. The duties of the interagency working group convened pursuant to subsection
(a)are as follows: To review existing programs that can be used to improve the provision of accessible, timely, and high-quality mental health services to members of the National Guard and the Reserves. To recommend new interagency programs and partnerships to improve the provision of such mental health services to such members. To recommend best practices for partnerships among the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Health and Human Services, States, and private and academic entities to improve the provision of mental health care to members of the members of the National Guard and the Reserves. In carrying out the duties under subsection (b), the interagency working group may consult with representatives of academia, industry, and such other relevant agencies, organizations, and institutions as the interagency working group considers appropriate. Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report that includes the findings and recommendations of the interagency working group. In this subsection, the term appropriate committees of Congress means— the congressional defense committees; the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives. Any medical or other personal information obtained pursuant to any provision of this section shall be protected from disclosure or misuse in accordance with the laws on privacy applicable to such information. No personally identifiable information may be included in any report required by subsection (d).