Title: Quicker Veterans Benefits Delivery Act of 2017
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Quicker Veterans Benefits Delivery Act of 2017
This bill requires (current law authorizes) the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to accept, for purposes of establishing a claim for veterans disability benefits, a report of a medical examination administered by a private physician without requiring confirmation by a Veterans Health Administration physician if the report is sufficiently complete (defined as competent, credible, probative, and containing such information as required to make a decision on the claim for which the report is provided).
The VA is required to submit: (1) a report on the progress of the VA's Acceptable Clinical Evidence initiative in reducing the necessity for in-person disability examinations, and (2) an annual report for each VA regional office regarding claims for which private medical evidence was determined to be unacceptable.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 706 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 706

  To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the treatment of 
medical evidence provided by non-Department of Veterans Affairs medical 
 professionals in support of claims for disability compensation under 
  the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 23, 2017

  Mr. Franken introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             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-Department of Veterans Affairs medical 
 professionals in support of claims for disability compensation under 
  the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for 
                            other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Quicker Veterans Benefits Delivery 
Act of 2017''.

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 Physician Examinations.--
Section 5125 of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking ``For purposes'' and inserting the 
        following:
    ``(a) In General.--For purposes'';
            (2) in subsection (a), as designated by paragraph (1), by 
        striking ``may'' and inserting ``shall''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(b) Sufficiently Complete Defined.--For purposes of a report 
described in subsection (a), the term `sufficiently 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 
provided.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments 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.

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 of Veterans Affairs shall submit 
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 provisions 
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 Acceptable 
        Clinical Evidence initiative during the period beginning on the 
        date of the commencement of the initiative and ending on the 
        date of the submittal 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 supplement the evidence with information 
        obtained during a telephone interview with a claimant.
            (3) Information on any other initiatives or efforts of the 
        Department to further encourage the use of private medical 
        evidence and reliance upon reports of a medical examination 
        administered by a private physician if the report is 
        sufficiently complete 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 
        support of which a claimant submits medical evidence and a 
        medical opinion provided by a private physician that is 
        competent, credible, probative, and otherwise adequate for the 
        purpose of making a decision on that claim.
            (5) Recommendations on how the Department can measure, 
        track, and prevent the ordering of unnecessary medical 
        examinations when the provision by a claimant of a medical 
        examination administered by a private physician in support of a 
        claim for benefits under chapter 11 or 15 of title 38, United 
        States Code, is adequate for the purpose of making a decision 
        on that claim.

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 office of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs:
            (1) The number of times a veteran who submitted private 
        medical evidence in support of a claim for compensation or 
        pension under the laws administered by the Secretary was 
        scheduled for an examination performed by Department personnel 
        because the private medical evidence submitted was determined 
        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 Secretary was determined to be 
        unacceptable.
            (3) The types of disabilities for which claims for benefits 
        under the laws administered by the Secretary were most commonly 
        denied when private medical evidence was submitted.
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