dinator of outreach programs and services for eligible de-
pendents in that region.
‘‘(2) Responsibilities of employees assigned to out-
reach functions under paragraph (1) shall include pro-
viding eligible dependents with (A) information about ben-
efits under laws administered by the Secretary, (B) assist-
ance in claims preparation and inquiry resolution, and (C)
in the case of a dependent of a deceased veteran for whom
necessary records are incomplete, assistance in obtaining
such records and other necessary information concerning
the veteran.
‘‘(c) Whenever an eligible dependent first applies for
any benefit under laws administered by the Secretary, the
Secretary shall provide to the dependent information con-
cerning eligibility for benefits and health care services
under programs administered by the Secretary. For pur-
poses of this paragraph, a request for burial or related
benefits, including an application for life insurance pro-
ceeds, shall be treated by the Secretary as an initial appli-
cation for benefits.
‘‘(d)(1) Information provided an eligible dependent
under this section shall include information on how to
apply for benefits for which the dependent may be eligible,
including information about assistance available under
subsection (b) and section 7722(d) of this title.
‘‘(2) In the case of eligible dependents who are mem-
bers of distinct beneficiary populations (such as survivors
of deceased veterans), the Secretary shall ensure that in-
formation provided under this section includes specific in-
formation about benefits relating to that population.
‘‘(e) For any geographic area in which there is a sig-
nificant population of eligible dependents whose primary
language is a language other than English, the Secretary
shall make information provided under this subsection
available to those dependents in the dominant language
in that area (in addition to English).
‘‘(f) Outreach services and assistance shall be pro-
vided for eligible dependents through the same means that
are used for other specially targeted groups.
‘‘(g) The Secretary shall ensure that the availability
of outreach services and assistance for eligible dependents
under this subchapter is made known through a variety
of means, including the Internet, correspondence of the
Department, announcements in veterans publications, an-
nouncements to the media, telephone directories, direct
correspondence to congressional offices, military bases
public affairs offices, military retiree affairs offices, and
United States embassies.
‘‘(h) The Secretary shall support the Department’s
periodic evaluation under section 527 of this title con-
cerning the Department’s efforts to address the needs of
eligible dependents.
‘‘(i) The Secretary shall submit to Congress an an-
nual report on the programs of the Department address-
ing the information and assistance needs of eligible de-
pendents. The Secretary shall include in each such report
the following:
‘‘(1) Information about expenditures, costs, and
workload under the program of the Department di-
rected towards the information and assistance needs
of eligible dependents.
‘‘(2) Information about outreach efforts di-
rected toward eligible dependents.
‘‘(3) Information about emerging needs within
the program that relate to other provisions of law,
including section 7725 of this title with respect to
language needs of eligible dependents.
‘‘(4) Information as to the timeline for imple-
mentation of improvements to meet existing and
emerging needs of eligible dependents in addition to
those specified in this section.’’.
(2) The table of sections at the beginning of such
chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating
to section 7726 the following new item:
‘‘7727. Outreach for eligible dependents.’’.
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