THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING, AND MEDICINE
Health and Medicine Division
Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice
Committee to Review the Department of Veterans Affairs Presumption Decision Process
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Congressional Briefing
Wednesday, August 9, 2023 – 1:00 p.m.
via Zoom
on
Review of the Department of Veterans Affairs Presumption Decision Process
When the scientific information needed to connect a veteran’s service or a particular military exposure with their diagnosed condition is nonexistent, impossible to obtain, or incomplete, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) may make a presumption of service connection using a formalized decision process. In 2022, VA instituted a series of changes intended to ensure the presumption decision process was more scientifically based, fair, consistent, transparent, timely, and veteran-centric.
Requested by Congress in P.L. 117-168, the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022, this new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine reviews the VA revised process document used to identify medical conditions to evaluate for presumption status, the factors that such an evaluation entails, and the governance process for the review and approval of a presumption recommendation. This resulting report, Review of the Department of Veterans Affairs Presumption Decision Process, contains the committee findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
This briefing was for members of Congress and congressional staff only. The report was publicly released on August 10, 2023 and can be found, in its entirety, on the Web site of the National Academies Press.