[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1331 Introduced in House (IH)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1331
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the treatment of
medical evidence provided by non-Department of Veterans Affairs medical
professionals in support of claims for disability compensation under
the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 4, 2015
Mr. Walz (for himself and Mr. Denham) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the treatment of
medical evidence provided by non-Department of Veterans Affairs medical
professionals in support of claims for disability compensation under
the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Quicker Veterans Benefits Delivery
Act of 2015''.
SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF MEDICAL EVIDENCE PROVIDED BY NON-DEPARTMENT OF
VETERANS AFFAIRS MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS IN SUPPORT OF
CLAIMS FOR DISABILITY COMPENSATION.
(a) Acceptance of Reports of Private Physician Examinations.--
Section 5125 of such title is amended--
(1) by striking ``For purposes'' and inserting ``(a) In
General.--'';
(2) by striking ``may'' and inserting ``shall''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(b) Sufficiently Complete Defined.--For purposes of a report
described in subsection (a), the term `sufficiently complete' means
competent, credible, probative, and containing such information as may
be required to make a decision on the claim for which the report is
provided.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall
apply with respect to medical evidence submitted after the date that is
90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. REPORT ON PROGRESS OF ACCEPTABLE CLINICAL EVIDENCE INITIATIVE.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
of the House of Representatives a report on the progress of the
Acceptable Clinical Evidence initiative of the Department of Veterans
Affairs in reducing the necessity for in-person disability examinations
and other efforts to comply with the provisions of section 5125 of
title 38, United States Code, as amended by section 2.
(b) Contents of Report.--The report required by subsection (a)
shall include the following:
(1) The number of claims eligible for the Acceptable
Clinical Evidence initiative during the period beginning on the
date of the commencement of the initiative and ending on the
date of the submittal of the report, disaggregated by fiscal
year.
(2) The total number of claims eligible for the Acceptable
Clinical Evidence initiative that required a medical examiner
of the Department to supplement the evidence with information
obtained during a telephone interview with a claimant.
(3) Information on any other initiatives or efforts of the
Department to further encourage the use of private medical
evidence and reliance upon reports of a medical examination
administered by a private physician if the report is
sufficiently complete to be adequate for the purposes of
adjudicating a claim.
(4) The anticipated impact on the timeline and accuracy of
a decision on a claim for benefits under chapter 11 or 15 of
title 38, United States Code, if the Secretary were prohibited
from requesting a medical examination in the case of a claim in
support of which a claimant submits medical evidence and a
medical opinion provided by a private physician that is
competent, credible, probative, and otherwise adequate for the
purpose of making a decision on that claim.
(5) Recommendations on how the Department can measure,
track, and prevent the ordering of unnecessary medical
examinations when the provision by a claimant of a medical
examination administered by a private physician in support of a
claim for benefits under chapter 11 or 15 of title 38, United
States Code, is adequate for the purpose of making a decision
on that claim.
SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORT.
Not later than March 1 of each year, the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs shall submit to Congress a report that includes, for the
calendar year preceding the year in which the report is submitted, the
following for each regional office of the Department of Veterans
Affairs:
(1) The number of times a veteran who submitted private
medical evidence in support of a claim for compensation or
pension under the laws administered by the Secretary was
scheduled for an examination performed by Department personnel
because the private medical evidence submitted was determined
to be unacceptable.
(2) The most common reasons why private medical evidence
submitted in support of claims for benefits under the laws
administered by the Secretary was determined to be
unacceptable.
(3) The types of disabilities for which claims for benefits
under the laws administered by the Secretary were mostly
commonly denied when private medical evidence was submitted.
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