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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF THE OMBUDS-
MAN IN VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRA-
TION. 
(a) OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN.— 
(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Subchapter I of chapter 
73 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by 
adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘§ 7309. Office of the Ombudsman 
‘‘(a) OFFICE; DIRECTORS.—There is established in 
the Veterans Health Administration an Office of the Om-
budsman (in this section referred to as the ‘Office’). The 
Office shall be headed by a Director appointed by the Sec-
retary. The Director shall report directly to the Secretary. 
‘‘(b) DUTIES OF OFFICE.—The Office shall— 
‘‘(1) be responsible for ensuring— 
‘‘(A) all matters referred to the Office are 
handled in a confidential manner; and 
‘‘(B) any action taken by the Administra-
tion with respect to such a matter does not neg-
atively affect the ability of any veteran to re-
ceive health care or benefits under a law admin-
istered by the Secretary; and 
‘‘(2) serve as a last resort for complaints and 
issues that cannot be resolved at a local or regional 
level in the Administration. 
‘‘(c) DUTIES OF DIRECTOR.—The Director shall— 
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‘‘(1) be responsible for overseeing the efforts of 
patient advocates in the Administration; 
‘‘(2) develop and make available to local offices 
of the Administration tools for monitoring the work 
of such patient advocates and standards to evaluate 
the work of such patient advocates; 
‘‘(3) determine trends, in terms of numbers, 
topics, and facility locations, in patient issues and 
complaints; 
‘‘(4) participate in such national quality con-
ferences of the Administration as the Under Sec-
retary for Health may designate; 
‘‘(5) help coordinate assistance for veterans who 
need assistance from the Administration in more 
than one region of the Administration; and 
‘‘(6) maintain a public Web site with links to 
contact information for each patient advocate at 
each medical center of the Department. 
‘‘(d) REGIONAL ADMINISTRATORS.—The Director 
shall appoint three regional administrators to support fa-
cilities of the Administration and veterans integrated serv-
ice networks in their patient advocacy work, to identify 
best practices for patient advocacy work and inform such 
facilities and networks of such best practices, and to re-
ceive and refer to the board established under subsection 
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(e) appeals from veterans in their respective regions who 
are not satisfied with the efforts of their local medical cen-
ter of the Department and veteran integrated service net-
work. 
‘‘(e) BOARD.—The Director shall establish a board 
composed of the Director and the three regional adminis-
trators appointed under subsection (d) to hear appeals re-
ferred to the board by a regional administrator under sub-
section (d) and issue a letter explaining the board’s deci-
sion regarding such appeal and outlining possible steps for 
resolving issues raised in such appeal. 
‘‘(f) LIMITATION ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.— 
Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting the 
authority and responsibility of coordinators of patient ad-
vocates for severely injured veterans of Operation of En-
during Freedom and severely injured veterans of Oper-
ation Iraqi Freedom.’’. 
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 
by inserting after the item relating to section 7308 
the following new item: 
‘‘7309. Office of the Ombudsman.’’. 
(b) DEADLINE
FOR DESIGNATION
OF OMBUDS-
MAN.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the en-
actment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
shall designate an individual to serve as the Ombudsman 
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of the Veterans Health Administration under section 7309 
of title 38, United States Code, as added by subsection 
(a). 
Passed the House of Representatives July 29, 2008. 
Attest: 
LORRAINE C. MILLER, 
Clerk. 
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