Veterans Benefits Fairness and Transparency Act of 2020
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7795) to amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the ability of veterans to access and submit disability benefit questionnaire forms of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 7795
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 ``Veterans Benefits Fairness and Transparency Act of 2020''. SEC. 2. PUBLICATION AND ACCEPTANCE OF DISABILITY BENEFIT QUESTIONNAIRE FORMS OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
(a) In General.--Section 5101 of title 38, United States Code, is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the following new subsection (d):
``(d)(1) The Secretary shall publish in a central location on the internet website of the Department disability benefit questionnaire forms, or such successor forms relating to non- Department medical providers submitting evidence regarding a disability of a claimant.
``(2) Subject to section 6103 of this title, if the Secretary updates a form described in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall--
``(A) accept the previous version of the form filed by a claimant if--
``(i) the claimant provided to the non-Department medical provider the previous version of the form before the date on which the updated version of the form was made available; and
``(ii) the claimant files the previous version of the form during the one-year period following the date the form was completed by the non-Department medical provider;
``(B) request from the claimant any other information that the updated version of the form requires; and
``(C) apply the laws and regulations required to adjudicate the claim as if the claimant filed the updated version of the form.
``(3) The Secretary may waive any interagency approval process required to approve a modification to a disability benefit questionnaire form if such requirement only applies by reason of the forms being made public under paragraph (1).
``(4) Not less frequently than once each year through 2026, the Inspector General of the Department shall submit to Congress a report on the findings of the Inspector General with respect to the use of the forms described in paragraph (1).''.
(b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in section 5101 of title 38, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), may be construed to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop any new information technology system or otherwise require the Secretary to make any significant changes to the internet website of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TAKANO. 7795.
Mr. Speaker, the Veterans Benefits Fairness and Transparency Act of 2020 is legislation that was brought to the House Veterans' Affairs Committee as a result of a strong partnership between staff and the advocates that are out in the field, even through the COVID-19 pandemic, assisting our veterans in the disability benefits process.
When a VA doctor evaluates a veteran's disability, they use a form known as a disability benefit questionnaire, or DBQ.
These DBQs are what VA employees use to decide benefit claims and can be the deciding factor between a grant or a denial.
During the height of the pandemic, VA made the decision to pull these DBQs off its public website, making them inaccessible to veterans and their representatives. The advocates told us this change was harmful for veterans because they could no longer get relevant medical information from their own treatment providers to support their claims.
Now, even though VA oftentimes provides medical exams to veterans during the claims process, it is not always the same as getting that information from your own doctor.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 7795 fixes this issue by requiring VA to publish DBQs on its website and to accept DBQs completed by a non-VA medical provider.
Mr. Speaker, I want to take this moment to thank Representatives Barr and Luria for introducing this legislation, and also thank our VSO partners for bringing this issue to our attention.
Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 7795, the Veterans Benefits Fairness and Transparency Act of 2020, which was introduced by my good friend, Andy Barr, from Kentucky.
This bill would streamline the process for veterans to submit medical evidence from their private provider to support their Department of Veterans Affairs compensation claim.
As you may know, VA has recently resumed certain in-person disability exams after suspending them at the start of the COVID-19 national emergency.
During those uncertain times, some veterans may have requested that their private physician conduct their disability exam in order to avoid a claims processing delay.
Unfortunately, in April of 2020, VA stopped publishing the disability benefits questionnaires, or DBQs, on its website. Those forms are used to ensure that VA receives all the medical information the department needs to adjudicate the veteran's disability claim.
However, if a veteran's physician does not have access to the appropriate DBQ, the provider may not include all the medical information needed to support the veteran's claim. H.R. 7795 would address this issue by requiring the VA to reinstate the public-facing DBQs on its website.
As an OB/GYN physician who managed my own private practice for three decades, I believe that a physician or other healthcare provider who has had the opportunity to develop a relationship with a veteran patient over several years is the most qualified to assess the veteran's disability.
If that provider is willing to perform a disability exam, they should have the same access to the DBQ that a VA examiner would have. I have heard VA's concerns about this bill, and I understand the department would like to improve the process for veterans to develop and obtain supportive evidence from their private providers.
However, I am not persuaded that the veterans are well-served by eliminating the public access to DBQs right now. Instead, I believe veterans should be able to obtain these forms until VA can implement a better process.
Veterans should not be penalized for seeking out a medical opinion from their private medical provider, especially when there is a backlog of over 350,000 pending disability exams caused by the pandemic that VA must address.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Congressman Barr and Congresswoman Elaine Luria of Virginia for their leadership on this issue.
And, Mr. Speaker, let me explain how it is. Let's say I am seeing a patient for a disability in my office, and I have put down exactly what I think is appropriate, but it is not all the information the VA needs. I don't know what they need. They need to just send me the form so I will know what to fill out so they will have adequate information.
So in your office, your staff back home are not getting these complaints about, Well, they turned my claim down because they didn't have adequate information. This is a simple solution to a simple problem.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage all Members to support H.R. 7795, and I reserve the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TAKANO. 7795.
Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee.
Mr. Speaker, this is a commonsense solution to a problem that shouldn't have occurred in the first place. And I think that it is--I appreciate both Congresswoman Luria and Congressman Barr for their leadership on this. I encourage my colleagues to support this.
Mr. Speaker, the passage of this important legislation is necessary to continue to make it easier for veterans to submit medical evidence in support of their disability claims.
I urge all of my colleagues to support the legislation, H.R. 7795, brought forward by Congressman Barr of Kentucky, and the cosponsor, the chairwoman of our Subcommittee on DAMA, Elaine Luria of Virginia.
Mr. Speaker I urge support of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source