Modernizing Department of Veterans Affairs Disability Benefit Questionnaires Act

Bill: 118-hr-4461
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Luttrell, Morgan [R-TX-8]
Introduced: 2023-07-03
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Computers and information technology

Disability and paralysis

Government information and archives

Veterans' pensions and compensation
Latest action: action_date: 2023-07-26
text: Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by Voice Vote.

Summaries:
action_date: 2023-07-03
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>Modernizing Department of Veterans Affairs Disability Benefit Questionnaires Act</strong></p><p>This bill requires that all disability benefit questionnaire data collected by persons other than employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in the course of VA medical disability examinations must be transmitted to the VA in a machine-readable format.</p>

tv_txt: I 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 4461 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 3, 2023 Mr. Luttrell (for himself and Mr. Self ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs A BILL To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to make certain improvements relating to the transmission of disability benefits questionnaire data to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Modernizing Department of Veterans Affairs Disability Benefit Questionnaires Act . 2. Modernization of Department of Veterans Affairs disability benefit questionnaires (a) Requirement for transmission of certain information in machine-Readable format (1) Requirement Not later than 180 days after enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall require all disability benefit questionnaire data collected in the course of medical disability examinations made by persons other than employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs under section 504 of the Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 1996 ( Public Law 104–275 ; 38 U.S.C. 5101 note) to be transmitted to the Department in a machine-readable format. (2) Issuance of standards Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall issue standards for the transmission of disability benefit questionnaire data in a machine-readable format as required under paragraph (1). (3) Updates In making updates to disability benefit questionnaires after the date specified in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— (A) ensure that the updates are made in a manner that allows for the data collected under the questionnaires to be in a machine-readable format as of the date on which the update goes into effect; and (B) not later than 60 days before an update goes into effect, notify the persons conducting medical disability examinations (or the entities employing such persons) described in such paragraph of such updates. (b) Plan for information technology system modification Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of Representatives a plan to modify the information technology systems and processes of the Department to enable a non-Department health care professional selected by a claimant to transmit to the Department, in a machine-readable format, disability benefit questionnaire data, including complete disability benefit questionnaires rather than partial questionnaires or individual elements of medical evidence. (c) Public availability of information The Secretary shall make publicly available on the internet website of the Department referred to in section 5101(d) of title 38, United States Code— (1) a description of the standards issued under subsection (a)(2); and (2) the plan required under subsection (b). (d) Definitions In this section: (1) The term claimant has the meaning given such term in section 5100 of title 38, United States Code. (2) The term machine-readable has the meaning given such term in section 3502(18) of title 44, United States Code.