I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3936 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program 

under which the Secretary carries out Veteran Engagement Team events 

where veterans can complete claims for disability compensation and pension under the laws administered by the Secretary, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 5, 2015 

Mr. COSTELLO of Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out 

a pilot program under which the Secretary carries out 

Veteran Engagement Team events where veterans can 

complete claims for disability compensation and pension 

under the laws administered by the Secretary, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veteran Engagement 

5 Teams Act’’ or ‘‘VET Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM ON DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

2 AFFAIRS VETERAN ENGAGEMENT TEAM 

3 EVENTS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

5 (1) PILOT PROGRAM.—Beginning not later than 

6 October 1, 2016, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

7 shall carry out a three-year pilot program under 

8 which the Secretary shall carry out events, to be 

9 known as ‘‘Veteran Engagement Team events’’. The 

10 Secretary shall ensure that such events are carried 

11 out— 

12 (A) during the first year during which the 

13 Secretary carries out the pilot program, at least 

14 once a month in a location within the jurisdic15 tion of each of 10 regional offices of the De16 partment of Veterans Affairs, including at least 

17 two regional offices in each of the five districts 

18 of the Veterans Benefits Administration under 

19 the organization of such Administration in ef20 fect as of the date of the enactment of this Act; 

21 and 

22 (B) during each of the second and third 

23 years during which the Secretary carries out 

24 the pilot program, at least once a month in a 

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1 gional offices of the Department, including at 

2 least three regional offices in each such district. 

3 (2) VETERAN ENGAGEMENT TEAM EVENTS.— 

4 During each Veteran Engagement Team event, the 

5 Secretary shall provide assistance to veterans in 

6 completing and adjudicating claims for disability 

7 compensation under chapter 11 of title 38, United 

8 States Code, and for pension under chapter 15 of 

9 such title. The Secretary shall ensure that— 

10 (A) all Veteran Engagement Team events 

11 occur during the normal business hours of the 

12 sponsoring regional office; 

13 (B) the events are carried out at different 

14 locations within the jurisdiction of each regional 

15 office and at least 50 miles from any regional 

16 office; 

17 (C) a sufficient number of physicians (to 

18 be available for opinions only), veteran service 

19 representatives and rating veteran service rep20 resentatives, and other personnel are available 

21 at the events to initiate, update, and finalize 

22 the completion and adjudication of claims; 

23 (D) veterans service organizations have ac24 cess to the events for purposes of providing as25 sistance to veterans; and 


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1 (E) a veteran who is unable to complete 

2 and adjudicate a claim at an event is informed 

3 of what additional information or actions are 

4 needed to finalize the claim. 

5 (b) LOCATION.—In selecting locations for Veteran 

6 Engagement Team events under this section, the Sec7 retary shall— 

8 (1) coordinate with veteran service organiza9 tions and State and local veterans agencies; and 

10 (2) seek to select locations that are community11 based and easily accessible. 

12 (c) TRANSFER OF PERSONNEL.— 

13 (1) PHYSICIANS.—The Secretary may not per14 manently transfer any physician employed by the 

15 Veterans Health Administration for the purpose of 

16 staffing a Veteran Engagement Team event. 

17 (2) PAYMENT OF SALARIES.—Any amount pay18 able to an employee of the Department for work per19 formed at a Veteran Engagement Team event is 

20 payable only from amounts otherwise available for 

21 the payment of the salary of the employee. No addi22 tional amounts are authorized to be appropriated 

23 under this section for the payment of salaries for 

24 Department employee. 


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1 (d) OTHER AUTHORITIES.—In carrying out the pilot 

2 program under this section, the Secretary may— 

3 (1) coordinate with States, local governments, 

4 nonprofit organizations, and private sector entities 

5 to use facilities to host Veteran Engagement Team 

6 events for no or minimal costs; and 

7 (2) accept, on a without compensation basis, 

8 services provided by non-Department physicians in 

9 rendering medical opinions relating to claims for 

10 compensation and pension. 

11 (e) CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEYS.—In car12 rying out the pilot program under this section, the Sec13 retary shall collect and analyze information about the cus14 tomer satisfaction of veterans who have received assist15 ance at an Veteran Engagement Team event. 

16 (f) REPORTS.—Not later than April 30, 2017, and 

17 annually thereafter beginning on October 1, 2017, for the 

18 duration of the program, the Secretary shall submit to 

19 Congress a report on the implementation and effectiveness 

20 of the events. Such report shall include— 

21 (1) the number and types of claims completed 

22 and adjudicated at the events; 

23 (2) the number and types of claims for which 

24 assistance was sought at the events that were not 

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1 sons such claims were not completed or adjudicated; 

2 and 

3 (3) an analysis of the customer satisfaction of 

4 veterans who have received assistance at an event 

5 based on the information collected under subsection 

6 (e). 

Æ 


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