IIB 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2192 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 30, 2008 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF THE OMBUDS2 MAN IN VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRA3 TION. 

4 (a) OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN.— 

5 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Subchapter I of chapter 

6 73 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by 

7 adding at the end the following new section: 

8 ‘‘§ 7309. Office of the Ombudsman 

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

10 the Veterans Health Administration an Office of the Om11 budsman (in this section referred to as the ‘Office’). The 

12 Office shall be headed by a Director appointed by the Sec13 retary. The Director shall report directly to the Secretary. 

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

15 ‘‘(1) be responsible for ensuring— 

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

17 handled in a confidential manner; and 

18 ‘‘(B) any action taken by the Administra19 tion with respect to such a matter does not neg20 atively affect the ability of any veteran to re21 ceive health care or benefits under a law admin22 istered by the Secretary; and 

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

24 issues that cannot be resolved at a local or regional 

25 level in the Administration. 

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


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

2 patient advocates in the Administration; 

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

4 of the Administration tools for monitoring the work 

5 of such patient advocates and standards to evaluate 

6 the work of such patient advocates; 

7 ‘‘(3) determine trends, in terms of numbers, 

8 topics, and facility locations, in patient issues and 

9 complaints; 

10 ‘‘(4) participate in such national quality con11 ferences of the Administration as the Under Sec12 retary for Health may designate; 

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

14 need assistance from the Administration in more 

15 than one region of the Administration; and 

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

17 contact information for each patient advocate at 

18 each medical center of the Department. 

19 ‘‘(d) REGIONAL ADMINISTRATORS.—The Director 

20 shall appoint three regional administrators to support fa21 cilities of the Administration and veterans integrated serv22 ice networks in their patient advocacy work, to identify 

23 best practices for patient advocacy work and inform such 

24 facilities and networks of such best practices, and to re25 ceive and refer to the board established under subsection 


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1 (e) appeals from veterans in their respective regions who 

2 are not satisfied with the efforts of their local medical cen3 ter of the Department and veteran integrated service net4 work. 

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

6 composed of the Director and the three regional adminis7 trators appointed under subsection (d) to hear appeals re8 ferred to the board by a regional administrator under sub9 section (d) and issue a letter explaining the board’s deci10 sion regarding such appeal and outlining possible steps for 

11 resolving issues raised in such appeal. 

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

13 Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting the 

14 authority and responsibility of coordinators of patient ad15 vocates for severely injured veterans of Operation of En16 during Freedom and severely injured veterans of Oper17 ation Iraqi Freedom.’’. 

18 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec19 tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 

20 by inserting after the item relating to section 7308 

21 the following new item: 

‘‘7309. Office of the Ombudsman.’’. 

22 (b) DEADLINE FOR DESIGNATION OF OMBUDS23 MAN.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the en24 actment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

25 shall designate an individual to serve as the Ombudsman 


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1 of the Veterans Health Administration under section 7309 

2 of title 38, United States Code, as added by subsection 

3 (a). 

Passed the House of Representatives July 29, 2008. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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