Full Faith in Veterans Act of 2008 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to accept as sufficient proof of service-connection of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) alleged to have been incurred in or aggravated by active military service a diagnosis of PTSD by a mental health professional, together with a written determination that such disorder is related to the veteran's service, if consistent with the circumstances, conditions, or hardships of such service, notwithstanding that there is no official record of such incurrence or aggravation during such service. Requires the Secretary to resolve every reasonable doubt in favor of the veteran. Allows PTSD service-connection to be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence.
Directs the Secretary to require Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees responsible for rating disabilities, evaluating claims for disability compensation for PTSD, or adjudicating disability compensation ratings to complete a certification program established by the Secretary.
Requires the Secretary to: (1) conduct audits of examinations of veterans who submit claims for disability compensation for PTSD; (2) update the schedule for rating disabilities with respect to PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and other mental disorders; (3) implement new PTSD criteria; (4) implement a holistic treatment approach for veterans with PTSD; and (5) require VA employees responsible for adjudicating disability compensation ratings to take into consideration veterans' treatment records from readjustment counseling centers and written opinions of mental health professionals.
[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5448 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5448
To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the disability
compensation evaluation procedure of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, to improve the
diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder by the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 14, 2008
Mr. Allen (for himself and Mr. Michaud) 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 disability
compensation evaluation procedure of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, to improve the
diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder 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 ``Full Faith in Veterans Act of
2008''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Men and women who serve in the Armed Forces make great
sacrifices for the Nation and for freedom.
(2) The Nation takes great pride in the integrity of
members of the Armed Forces and places full faith and
confidence in these men and women serving in the Armed Forces.
(3) The Nation should extend such full faith to the
integrity of those men and women when they make claims for
disability compensation related to their service.
(4) In the spirit of the Armed Forces' pledge never to
leave a man behind, the Nation should never leave a veteran
behind.
(5) Military service is inherently dangerous and stressful
whether during peacetime or during war.
(6) Post-traumatic stress disorder (referred to in this
section as ``PTSD'') is a debilitating mental health condition
linked to military service that the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs should make every effort to diagnose and effectively
treat.
(7) It is recognized in the medical community that PTSD can
onset at anytime after a traumatic event, and the course of the
disorder can contain periods of both relapse and remission.
(8) Denial by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs of claims
for disability compensation for PTSD due to incomplete military
records does a disservice to those who have honorably served
the country.
(9) Military records that would validate such claims may
have been lost due to no fault of the veteran.
(10) Due to the dangerous and fast-paced environment in
which the members of the Armed Forces operate, not every
significant and possibly traumatic incident in the life and
service of each member is chronicled accurately or completely.
(11) Evaluations for disability compensation for PTSD often
place veterans under the additional hardship of reliving
traumatic events by describing them to unfamiliar medical
professionals.
(12) According to the Institute of Medicine and
representatives of certain veterans' service organizations,
evaluations for pension and disability compensation for PTSD
are sometimes completed in as little as 20 minutes, despite
recommendations of the mental health community that evaluations
should take place over a period of one hour or more.
(13) The Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission,
established pursuant to title XV of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004, issued recommendations
to improve the care, compensation, and treatment of veterans
diagnosed with PTSD, including updating the schedule for rating
disabilities under section 1155 of title 38, United States
Code, establishing new criteria for the diagnosis and treatment
of PTSD, and using a holistic approach to treat veterans with
PTSD that incorporates treatment, compensation, and vocational
assessment.
SEC. 3. STANDARD OF PROOF FOR SERVICE-CONNECTION OF POST-TRAUMATIC
STRESS DISORDER.
(a) Standard of Proof.--Section 1154 of title 38, United States
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(c) The Secretary shall accept as sufficient proof of service-
connection of post-traumatic stress disorder alleged to have been
incurred in or aggravated by service in the active military, naval, or
air service a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder by a mental
health professional together with a written determination by the
professional that such disorder is related to the veteran's service, if
consistent with the circumstances, conditions, or hardships of such
service, notwithstanding the fact that there is no official record of
such incurrence or aggravation in such service, and, to that end, shall
resolve every reasonable doubt in favor of the veteran. Service-
connection of post-traumatic stress disorder may be rebutted by clear
and convincing evidence to the contrary. In the case of such a
rebuttal, the Secretary shall make all documents related to the
service-connection of the veteran's disability available to the
veteran.''.
(b) Applicability.--Subsection (c) of section 1154 of title 38,
United States Code, shall apply with respect to any claim for
disability compensation under laws administered by the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs for which no final decision has been made before the
date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. IMPROVEMENT OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS EVALUATIONS OF
CLAIMS RELATING TO POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER.
(a) Certification and Training for Certain Employees.--
(1) Certification program.--
(A) Certification required.--The Secretary of
Veterans Affairs shall require covered employees to
successfully complete a certification program
established by the Secretary. Such program shall
include a periodic recertification requirement.
(B) Covered employees.--For the purposes of this
paragraph, a ``covered employee'' is an employee of the
Department of Veterans Affairs who is responsible for
rating disabilities, evaluating claims for disability
compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder, or
adjudicating disability compensation ratings.
(C) Program requirements.--The certification
program under subparagraph (A) shall--
(i) provide specialized training on the
psychological and medical issues (including
comorbidities) that characterize individuals
with post-traumatic stress disorder and give
guidance on how to appropriately manage
commonly encountered problems in evaluating and
rating such disorder; and
(ii) incorporate the recommendations
contained in the Best Practice Manual for Post-
Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Compensation
and Pension Examinations issued by the National
Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder of
the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(D) Review of requirements.--The Secretary shall
regularly review and update the requirements for
successfully completing the certification program under
subparagraph (A) to take into consideration medical
advances and to reflect lessons learned.
(2) Training program.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs
shall provide training to support the certification program
required under paragraph (1).
(b) Audits of Examinations.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs
shall conduct audits of the examinations conducted by employees of the
Department of Veterans Affairs of veterans who submit claims for
disability compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder to ensure
that such employees are taking sufficient time necessary to diagnose
and accurately rate the disorder.
(c) Update of Schedule for Rating Disabilities.--Not later than 90
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs shall begin updating the schedule for rating
disabilities under section 1155 of title 38, United States Code. The
Secretary shall begin by updating the schedule with respect to post-
traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and other mental
disorders. The Secretary shall complete such update not later than five
years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(d) New Criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.--The Secretary
of Veterans Affairs shall implement the criteria of the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, specific to post-
traumatic stress disorder and use such criteria for the purpose of
rating post-traumatic stress disorder pursuant to the schedule for
rating disabilities under section 1155 of title 38, United States Code.
(e) Holistic Approach Required.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs
shall implement a holistic approach for providing treatment for
veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Such approach shall
combine treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, compensation, and
vocational assessment.
(f) Treatment of Mental Health Records.--The Secretary of Veterans
Affairs shall require an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs
who is responsible for adjudicating disability compensation ratings, in
developing evidence for a claim for disability compensation to take
into consideration the following:
(1) In the case of a veteran who has visited a center for
the provision of readjustment counseling and related mental
health services under section 1712A of title 38, United States
Code, any treatment records of the veteran from that center.
(2) In the case of a veteran who has received mental health
services from a mental health professional, any written opinion
of that mental health professional submitted to the Department
by the veteran.
(g) Consideration of Certain Materials.--In carrying out
subsections (c), (d), and (e), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall
consider materials on post-traumatic stress disorder and mental health
provided by the National Center on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder of
the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Institute of Medicine.
(h) Employee.--For purposes of this section, the term ``employee of
the Department of Veterans Affairs'' includes an employee of any entity
with which the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has entered into a
contract for the provision of conducting examinations or rating
disabilities for purposes of determining the amount of disability
compensation to be provided to a veteran under laws administered by the
Secretary.
SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS.
Not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Congress a
report on the implementation of this Act and the amendments made by
this Act. Such report shall include any evidence of fraud or abuse
relating to any provision of this Act or amendment made by this Act.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.
Subcommittee Hearings Held.
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