[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing 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.