Should the VA Accept Exams by Private Physicians When Veterans Establish Claims? (H.R. 1725)

What is H.R. 1725?

(Updated January 5, 2019)

This bill was enacted on March 9, 2018

This bill would require the Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA) to accept a report of a medical examination by a private physician to establish a claim for veterans disability benefits without requiring confirmation by a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) physician. Current law allows, but doesn’t require, the VA to accept reports from private physicians. The private physician’s report would have to be complete and include all information that’s needed to make a decision on the claim.

The VA would be required to submit two additional reports:

• A report on the progress of the VA’s Acceptable Clinical Evidence initiative in reducing the necessity for in-person disability examinations.

• An annual report for each VA regional office regarding claims for which private medical evidence was determined to be unacceptable.

Argument in favor

Veterans shouldn’t have to wait on the VA for the benefits they earned in service of the country, letting reports of exams by private physicians be used to start and speed up the claims process.

Argument opposed

The VA shouldn’t be required to accept exams from private physicians, and current law already allows them to accept the exams so this bill is unnecessary.

Impact

Veterans; private physicians; and the VA.

Cost of H.R. 1725

The CBO estimates that enacting this bill would cost less than $500,000 over the 2018-2022 period.

Additional Info

In-Depth: When he introduced this bill to help speed up the VA’s claims process during the last session of Congress, sponsoring Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN) said:

“After these brave men and women put their life on the line for us, the least we can do is ensure they are getting the benefits they have earned in a timely manner I recognize this problem was not created, nor will it be solved, overnight, but we can and must do better. Our bipartisan legislation will enhance the VA's current efforts to break the backlog by helping them become more efficient, and will help veterans get the benefits-and the care-they deserve quicker.”

This legislation passed the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee on a voice vote, and has the bipartisan support of eight cosponsors evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.

Media:

• Sponsoring Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) Press Release (Previous Version)
  
• CBO Cost Estimate
  
• Oakdale Leader