A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to modernize the disability benefits claims processing system of the Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure the accurate and timely delivery of compensation to veterans and their families and survivors, and for other purposes.
Veterans Disability Benefits Claims Modernization Act of 2008 - Revises or adds provisions relating to the disability compensation system of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to: (1) establish in the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) an Office of Survivors Assistance to provide assistance to veterans' survivors and dependents regarding VA benefits and services; (2) require a study on adjusting the schedule for rating veterans' disabilities; (3) establish the Advisory Committee on Disability Compensation; (4) require a study on the employee work credit system of the VBA; (5) require a study on the VBA's work management system; (6) require the certification and training of VBA employees responsible for processing claims; (7) require an annual independent assessment of the VBA's quality assurance program; (8) provide for the expedited VBA treatment of fully developed claims and a checklist for individuals submitting incomplete claims; (9) require a study of the VBA's need to employ additional medical professionals to act as a medical reference for employees handling claims; (10) provide for the assignment of partial disability ratings to certain veterans; (11) require a review and revision of VBA use of information technology; and (12) allow a claim beneficiary to be substituted as a claimant in the case of the death of a veteran claimant while a claim is awaiting adjudication or appeal.
Requires the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims to report annually to the congressional veterans' committees on the Court's workload.
Revises provisions concerning the jurisdiction and finality of decisions of the Court.
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
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