[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 2192 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
2d Session
H. R. 2192
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 30, 2008
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish an Ombudsman within
the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN IN VETERANS HEALTH
ADMINISTRATION.
(a) Office of the Ombudsman.--
(1) Establishment.--Subchapter I of chapter 73 of title 38,
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the
following new section:
``Sec. 7309. Office of the Ombudsman
``(a) Office; Directors.--There is established in the Veterans
Health Administration an Office of the Ombudsman (in this section
referred to as the `Office'). The Office shall be headed by a Director
appointed by the Secretary. The Director shall report directly to the
Secretary.
``(b) Duties of Office.--The Office shall--
``(1) be responsible for ensuring--
``(A) all matters referred to the Office are
handled in a confidential manner; and
``(B) any action taken by the Administration with
respect to such a matter does not negatively affect the
ability of any veteran to receive health care or
benefits under a law administered by the Secretary; and
``(2) serve as a last resort for complaints and issues that
cannot be resolved at a local or regional level in the
Administration.
``(c) Duties of Director.--The Director shall--
``(1) be responsible for overseeing the efforts of patient
advocates in the Administration;
``(2) develop and make available to local offices of the
Administration tools for monitoring the work of such patient
advocates and standards to evaluate the work of such patient
advocates;
``(3) determine trends, in terms of numbers, topics, and
facility locations, in patient issues and complaints;
``(4) participate in such national quality conferences of
the Administration as the Under Secretary for Health may
designate;
``(5) help coordinate assistance for veterans who need
assistance from the Administration in more than one region of
the Administration; and
``(6) maintain a public Web site with links to contact
information for each patient advocate at each medical center of
the Department.
``(d) Regional Administrators.--The Director shall appoint three
regional administrators to support facilities of the Administration and
veterans integrated service networks in their patient advocacy work, to
identify best practices for patient advocacy work and inform such
facilities and networks of such best practices, and to receive and
refer to the board established under subsection (e) appeals from
veterans in their respective regions who are not satisfied with the
efforts of their local medical center of the Department and veteran
integrated service network.
``(e) Board.--The Director shall establish a board composed of the
Director and the three regional administrators appointed under
subsection (d) to hear appeals referred to the board by a regional
administrator under subsection (d) and issue a letter explaining the
board's decision regarding such appeal and outlining possible steps for
resolving issues raised in such appeal.
``(f) Limitation on Statutory Construction.--Nothing in this
section shall be construed as affecting the authority and
responsibility of coordinators of patient advocates for severely
injured veterans of Operation of Enduring Freedom and severely injured
veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom.''.
(2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections at the
beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting after the
item relating to section 7308 the following new item:
``7309. Office of the Ombudsman.''.
(b) Deadline for Designation of Ombudsman.--Not later than 180 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs shall designate an individual to serve as the Ombudsman of the
Veterans Health Administration under section 7309 of title 38, United
States Code, as added by subsection (a).
Passed the House of Representatives July 29, 2008.
Attest:
LORRAINE C. MILLER,
Clerk.