Study on improvements to Department of Veterans Affairs covered medical disability examinations in rural areas

(a) Study required Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall complete a study on access by veterans who reside in rural and highly rural areas to covered medical disability examinations. (b) Elements (1) In general The study conducted under subsection (a) shall include the following: (A) A comparison of the average number of days to complete covered medical disability examinations, disaggregated by type of examination, for veterans who reside in rural and highly rural areas compared to an average time for veterans who reside in other areas to complete a covered medical disability examination, by either contractors or employees of the Department. (B) A root cause analysis of differences identified pursuant to subparagraph (A). (C) The plan of the Secretary for the following year to improve access described in subsection (a), which shall include a plan for the pursuit of a commercial or industry-standard solution or technology that could enable housebound veterans or veterans who live in rural areas to receive examinations without traveling long distances. (2) Number of days to complete defined For purposes of paragraph (1)(A), the term number of days to complete means the number of days in the period— (A) beginning on the date on which a contractor or employee of the Department received a request from the Secretary to conduct a covered medical disability examination; and (B) ending on the date on which the examination was completed. (c) Report on study Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 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 findings of the Secretary with respect to the study completed under subsection (a). (d) Definitions In this section: (1) Covered medical disability examination The term covered medical disability examination means a medical nexus examination or medical opinion for the purposes of adjudicating a benefit under chapter 11 or 15 of title 38, United States Code, regardless of whether conducted by an employee or a contractor of the Department. (2) Rural; highly rural The terms rural and highly rural have the meanings given those terms under the rural-urban commuting areas coding system of the Department of Agriculture.