H.R. 9862: Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Veterans Act of 2026

This bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to get an independent review of the artificial intelligence systems used in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Within 90 days of enactment, the VA would have to seek an agreement with a federally funded research and development center to evaluate AI systems that are already in use, in pilot testing, or being developed for clinical use.

The review would focus on at least five AI systems, with priority given to systems that are widely used or that could create higher clinical, operational, or patient safety risks. The systems most likely to be selected are ones that affect diagnosis, treatment decisions, triage, eligibility determinations, or benefits decisions; are used across multiple facilities; rely on predictive analytics, large language models, imaging analysis, or decision-support tools; or pose cybersecurity, privacy, or patient safety concerns.

What the evaluation would look at

The outside reviewer would examine several parts of each AI system, including:

• Whether the system is ready to be used in day-to-day operations and whether the VA’s technical infrastructure can support it.
• How well it works with electronic health records, medical devices, pharmacy systems, and other hospital tools.
• How it affects doctors’ workflows, staffing, and other operations.
• Who is responsible when the system makes mistakes or causes harm, and what rules exist for data use and veteran privacy.
• How the system is monitored, updated, retrained, and audited.
• Whether it complies with federal privacy, cybersecurity, and health information laws.
• How accurate and reliable it is, including whether it performs differently for different demographic groups.
• Whether the system is understandable enough for clinicians to oversee its outputs.
• Whether there are safeguards to make sure the AI supports, rather than replaces, clinical judgment.
• Whether clinicians can override or challenge the AI’s output.
• Whether the system is designed in a way that fits veterans’ needs and accessibility requirements.
• Whether staff are getting enough training and support to use it.
• How much it costs to buy, run, maintain, and scale, including cloud or computing costs.
• Whether it improves efficiency, reduces wait times or paperwork, and helps with care.
• Whether the system’s documentation is detailed enough to be audited and reviewed.
• For large-scale use, whether it has any environmental impacts, such as energy use.

Information the VA would have to provide

The bill would require the VA to give the reviewer access to relevant materials needed to complete the evaluation, including contracts, technical documentation, validation studies, model cards, performance data, audit logs, incident reports, corrective action plans, and AI governance and risk-management policies.

Reports and follow-up

Within one year after the agreement is signed, the research center would have to send a report to the VA and to the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees. That report would include findings for each system, identify major risks, recommend fixes or changes, and point out any broader weaknesses in the VA’s AI oversight framework. The report would be submitted in unclassified, unredacted form, though it could include a classified annex.

Within 120 days after receiving that report, the VA Secretary would have to respond to each finding and recommendation and submit a corrective action plan. That plan would need to list specific steps, assign responsibility to VA officials, set deadlines and milestones, and explain any risks the VA expects will remain unresolved.

Within 180 days after the corrective action plan is submitted, the Comptroller General would review both the evaluation and the VA’s initial response and brief the Veterans’ Affairs Committees on the results, including any recommendations for improvement. The VA would also have to provide Congress with the full evaluation and later updates to the corrective action plan, except where information is classified or otherwise protected by law.

Funding

The bill would not provide new money for this work. The VA would have to carry it out using existing funds already available to the department.

Relevant Companies

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