IB 

Union Calendar No. 492 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2192 

[Report No. 110–773] 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish an Ombudsman within 

the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 7, 2007 

Mr. HODES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Veterans’ Affairs 

JULY 24, 2008 

Additional sponsors: Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. JONES of 

North Carolina, Mr. MATHESON, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SHULER, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. 

ABERCROMBIE, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. 

BOSWELL, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. COHEN, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. 

MARSHALL, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. 

LYNCH, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mrs. 

GILLIBRAND, Mr. GILCHREST, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. 

BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. FILNER, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms. 

HIRONO, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. CARSON, 

Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania, and Mr. BUYER

JULY 24, 2008 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 


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[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish an 

Ombudsman within the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

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

3 SECTION 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF THE OMBUDS4 MAN IN DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF5 FAIRS. 

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Chapter 3 of title 38, United 

7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol8 lowing new section: 

9 ‘‘§ 321. Office of the Ombudsman 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the De11 partment an Office of the Ombudsman (in this section re12 ferred to as the Office). The Secretary shall designate an 

13 Ombudsman to carry out the duties of the Office. 

14 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The Office shall act as a liaison for 

15 veterans and their family members with respect to the re16 ceipt of health care and benefits administered by the De17 partment. 

18 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF SERVICES.—The Secretary 

19 shall ensure that the services of the Office are available 

20 to all veterans and their family members. 


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1 ‘‘(d) CONFIDENTIALITY.—Any information provided 

2 by veterans or their family members to the Office may 

3 be disclosed only to the extent necessary to carry out the 

4 duties of the Office. 

5 ‘‘(e) OUTREACH.—The Secretary shall make available 

6 to each veteran, and to the family members of all veterans, 

7 information on contacting and utilizing the services of the 

8 Office.’’. 

9 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

10 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 

11 at the end the following new item: 

‘‘321. Office of the Ombudsman.’’. 

12 SECTION 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF THE OMBUDS13 MAN IN VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRA14 TION. 

15 (a) OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN.— 

16 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Subchapter I of chapter 

17 73 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by 

18 adding at the end the following new section: 

19 ‘‘§ 7309. Office of the Ombudsman 

20 ‘‘(a) OFFICE; DIRECTORS.—There is established in the 

21 Veterans Health Administration an Office of the Ombuds22 man (in this section referred to as the ‘Office’). The Office 

23 shall be headed by a Director appointed by the Secretary. 

24 The Director shall report directly to the Secretary. 

25 ‘‘(b) DUTIES OF OFFICE.—The Office shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) be responsible for ensuring— 

2 ‘‘(A) all matters referred to the Office are 

3 handled in a confidential manner; and 

4 ‘‘(B) any action taken by the Administra5 tion with respect to such a matter does not nega6 tively affect the ability of any veteran to receive 

7 health care or benefits under a law administered 

8 by the Secretary; and 

9 ‘‘(2) serve as a last resort for complaints and 

10 issues that cannot be resolved at a local or regional 

11 level in the Administration. 

12 ‘‘(c) DUTIES OF DIRECTOR.—The Director shall— 

13 ‘‘(1) be responsible for overseeing the efforts of 

14 patient advocates in the Administration; 

15 ‘‘(2) develop and make available to local offices 

16 of the Administration tools for monitoring the work 

17 of such patient advocates and standards to evaluate 

18 the work of such patient advocates; 

19 ‘‘(3) determine trends, in terms of numbers, top20 ics, and facility locations, in patient issues and com21 plaints; 

22 ‘‘(4) participate in such national quality con23 ferences of the Administration as the Under Secretary 

24 for Health may designate; 


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1 ‘‘(5) help coordinate assistance for veterans who 

2 need assistance from the Administration in more than 

3 one region of the Administration; and 

4 ‘‘(6) maintain a public Web site with links to 

5 contact information for each patient advocate at each 

6 medical center of the Department. 

7 ‘‘(d) REGIONAL ADMINISTRATORS.—The Director shall 

8 appoint three regional administrators to support facilities 

9 of the Administration and veterans integrated service net10 works in their patient advocacy work, to identify best prac11 tices for patient advocacy work and inform such facilities 

12 and networks of such best practices, and to receive and refer 

13 to the board established under subsection (e) appeals from 

14 veterans in their respective regions who are not satisfied 

15 with the efforts of their local medical center of the Depart16 ment and veteran integrated service network. 

17 ‘‘(e) BOARD.—The Director shall establish a board 

18 composed of the Director and the three regional administra19 tors appointed under subsection (d) to hear appeals referred 

20 to the board by a regional administrator under subsection 

21 (d) and issue a letter explaining the board’s decision re22 garding such appeal and outlining possible steps for resolv23 ing issues raised in such appeal. 

24 ‘‘(f) LIMITATION ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.— 

25 Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting the 


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1 authority and responsibility of coordinators of patient ad2 vocates for severely injured veterans of Operation of Endur3 ing Freedom and severely injured veterans of Operation 

4 Iraqi Freedom.’’. 

5 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec6 tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended by 

7 inserting after the item relating to section 7308 the 

8 following new item: 

‘‘7309. Office of the Ombudsman.’’. 

9 (b) DEADLINE FOR DESIGNATION OF OMBUDSMAN.— 

10 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of 

11 this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall designate 

12 an individual to serve as the Ombudsman of the Veterans 

13 Health Administration under section 7309 of title 38, 

14 United States Code, as added by subsection (a). 


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Union Calendar No. 492 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2192 

[Report No. 110

–773] 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish 

erans Affairs. an Ombudsman within the Department of VetJULY 24, 2008 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS