Pilot program of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to arrange for qualified pension assistance organizations to provide claims development support

(a) Pilot program The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall carry out a pilot program under which the Secretary enters into contracts or other agreements with one or more qualified pension assistance organizations to provide claimant-support services related to— (1) non-service-connected pension benefits under chapter 15 of title 38, United States Code, including increased pension payable by reason of the need for regular aid and attendance under section 1521(d) of such title; and (2) survivor pension benefits payable by reason of the need for regular aid and attendance under section 1541(d) of such title. (b) Support provided Support provided under the pilot program shall include— (1) claimant intake and eligibility screening; (2) collection and organization of medical, financial, dependency, and long-term care documentation; (3) evidentiary development and application preparation; (4) coordination of healthcare, caregiving, and financial information relevant to claim adjudication; (5) preparation and packaging of application materials; (6) claimant continuity services during the claims-development process; (7) claimant follow-up services throughout the adjudication process; (8) assistance with maintaining Fully Developed Claim status when applicable; and (9) post-submission claimant support and communication assistance. (c) Locations The Secretary shall select one or more Veterans Integrated Services Networks in which to conduct the pilot program. (d) Limitation The Secretary may limit participation based on numerical, geographic, categorical, or other criteria determined appropriate by the Secretary. (e) Contracts or other agreements The Secretary shall seek to enter into one or more contracts or other agreements with qualified pension assistance organizations for purposes of carrying out this section. (f) Qualification requirements To participate in the pilot program, an organization shall meet the requirements specified in subsection (j). (g) Protections The Secretary shall ensure that participating organizations maintain safeguards necessary to— (1) protect claimant information; (2) prevent fraud, waste, and abuse; (3) ensure compliance with Federal privacy laws and regulations; (4) ensure compliance with section 5904 of title 38, United States Code; and (5) protect veterans and surviving spouses from inappropriate financial arrangements or conflicts of interest. (h) Sunset The authority under this section shall terminate on December 31, 2031. (i) Preference In selecting participating organizations, the Secretary shall give preference to organizations with substantial demonstrated experience assisting veterans and surviving spouses in obtaining non-service-connected pension benefits and aid and attendance benefits on a nationwide basis. (j) Qualified pension assistance organization defined In this section, the term qualified pension assistance organization means an organization that provides nationwide administrative and claimant-support services exclusively related to Department of Veterans Affairs non-service-connected pension benefits, including pension with aid and attendance, and that— (1) has maintained continuous operations for not fewer than five years primarily dedicated to assisting veterans and surviving spouses with pension benefit eligibility determinations and claim development; (2) has documented not fewer than 10,000 verifiable approvals of Department of Veterans Affairs non-service-connected pension claims, including pension with aid and attendance and survivor pension claims; (3) demonstrates the operational capacity to serve not fewer than 300 claimants per month on a nationwide basis; (4) maintains a dedicated national infrastructure for claimant intake, case management, evidentiary development, application support, and claimant continuity services; (5) does not engage in the sale, marketing, referral, or receipt of compensation related to financial products, annuities, insurance products, investment products, trusts, asset-transfer strategies, or Medicaid planning products; (6) does not charge any fee to a claimant for preparing, presenting, or prosecuting a claim for benefits under laws administered by the Secretary; (7) is accredited by the Department of Veterans Affairs, or operates under the direct supervision of a Department-accredited attorney or claims agent; (8) has demonstrated specialized experience assisting veterans and surviving spouses with non-service-connected pension claims on a nationwide basis and has maintained a documented approval history and claimant-support infrastructure sufficient to support large-scale pension claims development operations; (9) has never, and no affiliated organization, officer, employee, contractor, or agent has ever, directly or indirectly— (A) been granted signatory authority over, joint ownership of, or access to a claimant's bank account, financial account, or other financial assets; or (B) acquired, accepted, held, or been granted any ownership interest, lien, mortgage, deed, title interest, power of attorney, or other legal or equitable interest in a claimant's primary residence or real property; and (10) maintains auditable records sufficient to verify compliance with the requirements of this subsection.