A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to make permanent and codify the pilot program for use of contract physicians for disability examinations, and for other purposes.
Summary
What This Bill Does
Makes permanent and codifies VA authority to use contract health professionals for disability examinations, allows eligible licensed contractors to conduct exams in any state within contract duties, reimburses VBA operating and IT accounts from compensation and pension funds, requires a mechanism to transmit new material medical evidence from exams, terminates the old pilot program, and requires a 3-year report on cost, timeliness, and thoroughness.
Who Benefits and How
VA disability applicants benefit if contract exam capacity improves scheduling, timeliness, and access to medical disability examinations. Contract health professionals benefit because the bill creates permanent contract authority and allows eligible licensed professionals to perform covered exams in any state despite state licensure-location rules. VBA exam scheduling staff benefit from a permanent authority replacing the pilot program and from a mechanism for receiving new material medical evidence introduced during an examination. Congress benefits from a 3-year report on cost, timeliness, and thoroughness.
Who Bears the Burden and How
VBA operations and IT accounts must administer contract exams and receive reimbursements from compensation and pension funds. VA compensation and pension funds bear the reimbursement cost for examinations, travel, and incidental expenses. Contract health professionals must maintain current unrestricted licenses, remain unbarred in every state, meet VHA eligibility criteria, and transmit new material evidence. VA procurement and exam oversight staff must manage contracts, evidence transmittal, pilot termination, and the 3-year evaluation report.
Key Provisions
- Codifies new title 38 section 5103B authorizing contract health professionals to conduct VA disability examinations.
- Requires examinations to be performed under contracts entered by the Under Secretary for Benefits.
- Provides a licensure-location exception for eligible contract professionals with current unrestricted licenses who are not barred in any state.
- Requires reimbursement of VBA operating and IT accounts from compensation and pension funds for exam, travel, and incidental expenses.
- Requires a mechanism for contract examiners to transmit new material medical evidence introduced by applicants during exams.
- Terminates the 1996 pilot program and requires a 3-year report on cost, timeliness, and thoroughness.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Makes permanent and codifies VA authority to use contract health professionals for disability examinations, allows eligible licensed contractors to conduct exams in any state within contract duties, reimburses VBA operating and IT accounts from compensation and pension funds, requires a mechanism to transmit new material medical evidence from exams, terminates the old pilot program, and requires a 3-year report on cost, timeliness, and thoroughness.
Key Policy Areas
Veterans, VA Claims, Disability Examinations, Procurement
Primary Purpose
Makes permanent and codifies VA authority to use contract health professionals for disability examinations, allows eligible licensed contractors to conduct exams in any state within contract duties, reimburses VBA operating and IT accounts from compensation and pension funds, requires a mechanism to transmit new material medical evidence from exams, terminates the old pilot program, and requires a 3-year report on cost, timeliness, and thoroughness.
Policy Domains
House resolution provisions
Identified Gains
- VA disability applicants benefit if contract exam capacity improves scheduling, timeliness, and access to medical disability examinations
- Contract health professionals benefit because the bill creates permanent contract authority and allows eligible licensed professionals to perform covered exams in any state despite state licensure-location rules
- VBA exam scheduling staff benefit from a permanent authority replacing the pilot program and from a mechanism for receiving new material medical evidence introduced during an examination
- Congress benefits from a 3-year report on cost, timeliness, and thoroughness
Identified Costs
- VBA operations and IT accounts must administer contract exams and receive reimbursements from compensation and pension funds
- VA compensation and pension funds bear the reimbursement cost for examinations, travel, and incidental expenses
- Contract health professionals must maintain current unrestricted licenses, remain unbarred in every state, meet VHA eligibility criteria, and transmit new material evidence
- VA procurement and exam oversight staff must manage contracts, evidence transmittal, pilot termination, and the 3-year evaluation report
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedCommittee on Veterans' Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an …
Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 119-86.
Mr. Moran (for himself and Mr. King) introduced the following …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
VA compensation funds, VA disability applicants, VA procurement staff
Contract examiners, Contract health professionals
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "secretary"
- → Secretary of Veterans Affairs
- "under_secretary"
- → Under Secretary for Benefits
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology