A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a Veterans' Administration Advisory Committee on Women Veterans; to improve various aspects of Veterans' Administration health-care programs; to extend the period for Vietnam-era veterans to request counseling under the Veterans' Administration Readjustment Counseling program; to promote the recruitment and retention of certain health-care personnel in the the Veterans' Administration's Department of Medicine and Surgery; to express the sense of the Congress with respect to the role of the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs; to require the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs to conduct an epidemiological study of long-term health effects in veterans of exposure to ionizing radiation from nuclear test detonations; and for other purposes.
Veterans' Programs Improvement Act of 1983 - Title I:Definition of Vietnam Era - Redefines the Vietnam Era to include the period July 8, 1959, through May 7, 1975, for veterans who served in the Republic of South Vietnam during that period.
Title II: Women Veterans - Makes women veterans eligible for outpatient treatment at private facilities for medical conditions relating to gender.
Title III: Veterans Administration Health-Care Programs - Extends through FY 1985 a Vietnam era veteran's eligibility for readjustment counseling.
Makes the Preventive Health-Care Services Pilot Program a permanent program.
Title IV: Veterans Administration Health-Care Personnel - Permits the Administrator to appoint licensed practical or vocational nurses for physical therapists, and certified or registered respiratory therapists for the medical care of veterans. Requires such personnel to have such medical, scientific, or technical qualifications as the Administrator shall prescribe. Sets forth the period of appointments and the probationary period for such personnel. Establishes wage scales and other terms and conditions of employment. Requires the Administrator and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to submit a joint report to the Veterans' Affairs Committees concerning the conversion of selected health care occupations to title 38 (Veterans), U.S. Code.
Title V: Status and Role of Administrator of Veterans Affairs - Expresses the sense of Congress that the Administrator should be made a fully participating member of the Cabinet.
Title VI: Health Hazards Studies and Report - Directs the Administrator to provide for an epidemiological study of the long-term adverse health effects of exposure to ionizing radiation from the detonation of a nuclear device, either in connection with a test or with the American occupation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, following World War II.
Directs the Administrator to conduct a comprehensive review of scientific analysis of the literature covering studies relating to such effects.
Directs the President and the Administrator to make several reports to the appropriate committees of Congress concerning the steps taken and the results of the literature review. Requires, after two years, an annual report from the Administrator to the appropriate committees concerning the epidemiological study.
Directs the Administrator, within 90 days of submitting such report, to set forth in the Federal Register what action he proposes to take concerning Veterans Administration programs in response to such report. Directs the Administrator to report to Congress within 180 days of enactment on alternative approaches to providing benefits to veterans and the natural children of veterans who were exposed during service to either such radiation or to dioxins (Agent Orange) used in Vietnam.
Title VII: Technical Amendments - Makes various technical amendments.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
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