I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1725 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the treatment of medical 
evidence provided by non-Department of Veterans Affairs medical profes-
sionals in support of claims for disability compensation under the laws 
administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other pur-
poses. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 24, 2017 
Mr. WALZ (for himself, Mr. DENHAM, Mr. LANGEVIN, Ms. MCSALLY, Mr. 
JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. COSTELLO of Pennsylvania, and Ms. KUSTER of 
New Hampshire) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the 
treatment of medical evidence provided by non-Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs medical professionals in support 
of claims for disability compensation under the laws ad-
ministered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Quicker Veterans Ben-
efits Delivery Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF MEDICAL EVIDENCE PROVIDED BY 
NON-DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 
MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS IN SUPPORT OF 
CLAIMS FOR DISABILITY COMPENSATION. 
(a) ACCEPTANCE OF REPORTS OF PRIVATE PHYSI-
CIAN EXAMINATIONS.—Section 5125 of such title is 
amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘For purposes’’ and inserting 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting ‘‘shall’’; 
and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(b) SUFFICIENTLY COMPLETE DEFINED.—For pur-
poses of a report described in subsection (a), the term ‘suf-
ficiently complete’ means competent, credible, probative, 
and containing such information as may be required to 
make a decision on the claim for which the report is pro-
vided.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall apply with respect to medical evidence 
submitted after the date that is 90 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act. 
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SEC. 3. REPORT ON PROGRESS OF ACCEPTABLE CLINICAL 
EVIDENCE INITIATIVE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall sub-
mit to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate 
and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of 
Representatives a report on the progress of the Acceptable 
Clinical Evidence initiative of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs in reducing the necessity for in-person disability 
examinations and other efforts to comply with the provi-
sions of section 5125 of title 38, United States Code, as 
amended by section 2. 
(b) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report required by 
subsection (a) shall include the following: 
(1) The number of claims eligible for the Ac-
ceptable Clinical Evidence initiative during the pe-
riod beginning on the date of the commencement of 
the initiative and ending on the date of the sub-
mittal of the report, disaggregated by fiscal year. 
(2) The total number of claims eligible for the 
Acceptable Clinical Evidence initiative that required 
a medical examiner of the Department to supple-
ment the evidence with information obtained during 
a telephone interview with a claimant. 
(3) Information on any other initiatives or ef-
forts of the Department to further encourage the 
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use of private medical evidence and reliance upon re-
ports of a medical examination administered by a 
private physician if the report is sufficiently com-
plete to be adequate for the purposes of adjudicating 
a claim. 
(4) The anticipated impact on the timeline and 
accuracy of a decision on a claim for benefits under 
chapter 11 or 15 of title 38, United States Code, if 
the Secretary were prohibited from requesting a 
medical examination in the case of a claim in sup-
port of which a claimant submits medical evidence 
and a medical opinion provided by a private physi-
cian that is competent, credible, probative, and oth-
erwise adequate for the purpose of making a deci-
sion on that claim. 
(5) Recommendations on how the Department 
can measure, track, and prevent the ordering of un-
necessary medical examinations when the provision 
by a claimant of a medical examination administered 
by a private physician in support of a claim for ben-
efits under chapter 11 or 15 of title 38, United 
States Code, is adequate for the purpose of making 
a decision on that claim. 
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SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORT. 
Not later than March 1 of each year, the Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Congress a report that 
includes, for the calendar year preceding the year in which 
the report is submitted, the following for each regional of-
fice of the Department of Veterans Affairs: 
(1) The number of times a veteran who sub-
mitted private medical evidence in support of a claim 
for compensation or pension under the laws adminis-
tered by the Secretary was scheduled for an exam-
ination performed by Department personnel because 
the private medical evidence submitted was deter-
mined to be unacceptable. 
(2) The most common reasons why private 
medical evidence submitted in support of claims for 
benefits under the laws administered by the Sec-
retary was determined to be unacceptable. 
(3) The types of disabilities for which claims for 
benefits under the laws administered by the Sec-
retary were mostly commonly denied when private 
medical evidence was submitted. 
Æ 
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