[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1582 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1582
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit reports on the
provision of services by the Department of Veterans Affairs to veterans
with hearing loss and other auditory system injuries and the measures
that can be taken jointly by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the
Department of Defense with respect to hearing loss and other auditory
system injuries, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 28, 2013
Mr. Sanders introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to submit reports on the
provision of services by the Department of Veterans Affairs to veterans
with hearing loss and other auditory system injuries and the measures
that can be taken jointly by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the
Department of Defense with respect to hearing loss and other auditory
system injuries, and for other purposes.
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 ``Improved Compensation for Hearing
Loss Act of 2013''.
SEC. 2. REPORT ON PRACTICES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO
ADEQUATELY PROVIDE SERVICES TO VETERANS WITH HEARING
LOSS.
(a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit
to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the Senate and the Committee
on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives a report on the
actions taken by the Secretary to implement the findings and
recommendations included in the 2006 report by the Institute of
Medicine of the National Academies entitled ``Noise and Military
Service: Implications for Hearing Loss and Tinnitus'' that was prepared
pursuant to section 104 of the Veterans Benefits Act of 2002 (Public
Law 107-330; 116 Stat. 2822).
(b) Effect of Duty Military Occupational Specialty Noise Exposure
Listing on Receipt of Benefits by Veterans.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall include in the report
required by subsection (a) an evaluation of the extent to which
veterans who had a military occupational specialty during
service as a member of the Armed Forces that is not included on
the Duty Military Occupational Specialty Noise Exposure Listing
(in this subsection referred to as the ``MOS List'') are
precluded from receiving benefits related to hearing loss from
the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(2) Data.--The Secretary shall include in the evaluation
required by paragraph (1) the following:
(A) With respect to veterans who had a military
occupational specialty included on the MOS List--
(i) the number of claims for benefits
related to hearing loss from the Department of
Veterans Affairs that were granted; and
(ii) the number of claims for benefits
related to hearing loss from the Department
that were denied.
(B) With respect to veterans who had a military
occupational specialty not included on the MOS List--
(i) the number of claims for benefits
related to hearing loss from the Department
that were granted;
(ii) the number of claims for benefits
related to hearing loss from the Department
that were denied;
(iii) of the number of denied claims under
clause (ii), the number of those claims that
were appealed; and
(iv) of the number of appealed claims under
clause (iii), the number of those appealed
claims that were successfully appealed.
(c) Additional Matters.--The Secretary shall include in the report
required by subsection (a) the following:
(1) In the case of a veteran with unilateral hearing loss,
an explanation of the scientific basis for the practice of the
Department of determining a disability rating level with
respect to hearing based on an examination of that veteran's
healthy ear instead of the injured ear.
(2) An analysis of the reduction in earning capacity for
veterans as a result of unilateral hearing loss, with a focus
on the ability of those veterans--
(A) to detect the direction of sound; and
(B) to understand speech.
(3) An explanation of the rationale for the practice of the
Department of not issuing a compensable rating for hearing loss
at certain levels that are severe enough to require the use of
hearing aids.
(4) A survey of the audiologists that conduct compensation
and pension examinations for the Department to assess the
implementation of the most recent edition of the best practices
manual for hearing loss and tinnitus examinations that includes
the following:
(A) A description of the training received by those
audiologists compared to the methods described in the
most recent edition of the best practices manual for
hearing loss and tinnitus examinations.
(B) An assessment of how those audiologists have
complied with that training.
(C) Whether those audiologists are using a range of
tones up to 8000 hertz to test the hearing of veterans.
SEC. 3. REPORT ON JOINT PROGRAMS OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AND
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE WITH RESPECT TO HEARING LOSS OF
MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES AND VETERANS.
Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall, in consultation with the
Secretary of Defense, submit to Congress a report that identifies the
following:
(1) Goals for the Department of Veterans Affairs and the
Department of Defense for the prevention, early detection, and
treatment of hearing loss by the National Center for
Rehabilitative Auditory Research of the Department of Veterans
Affairs and the Hearing Center of Excellence of the Department
of Defense.
(2) Resources of the Department of Veterans Affairs that
could be made available to assist the Department of Defense in
conducting audiometric tests and tinnitus screenings for
members of the Armed Forces.
(3) Barriers to information being added to the Hearing Loss
and Auditory System Injury Registry required under section
721(c)(1) of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Public Law 110-417; 122 Stat. 4506).
(4) Recommendations for any legislative or administrative
actions necessary with respect to the Hearing Loss and Auditory
System Injury Registry--
(A) to assist in achieving the goals specified in
paragraph (1);
(B) to improve the adjudication of claims for
benefits with respect to hearing loss; and
(C) to further the research objectives of the
National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research of
the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Hearing
Center of Excellence of the Department of Defense.
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