text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Full Faith in Veterans Act of 
  2008''.
  
  SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
  
      Congress makes the following findings:
              (1) Men and women who serve in the Armed Forces make great 
          sacrifices for the Nation and for freedom.
              (2) The Nation takes great pride in the integrity of 
          members of the Armed Forces and places full faith and 
          confidence in these men and women serving in the Armed Forces.
              (3) The Nation should extend such full faith to the 
          integrity of those men and women when they make claims for 
          disability compensation related to their service.
              (4) In the spirit of the Armed Forces' pledge never to 
          leave a man behind, the Nation should never leave a veteran 
          behind.
              (5) Military service is inherently dangerous and stressful 
          whether during peacetime or during war.
              (6) Post-traumatic stress disorder (referred to in this 
          section as ``PTSD'') is a debilitating mental health condition 
          linked to military service that the Secretary of Veterans 
          Affairs should make every effort to diagnose and effectively 
          treat.
              (7) It is recognized in the medical community that PTSD can 
          onset at anytime after a traumatic event, and the course of the 
          disorder can contain periods of both relapse and remission.
              (8) Denial by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs of claims 
          for disability compensation for PTSD due to incomplete military 
          records does a disservice to those who have honorably served 
          the country.
              (9) Military records that would validate such claims may 
          have been lost due to no fault of the veteran.
              (10) Due to the dangerous and fast-paced environment in 
          which the members of the Armed Forces operate, not every 
          significant and possibly traumatic incident in the life and 
          service of each member is chronicled accurately or completely.
              (11) Evaluations for disability compensation for PTSD often 
          place veterans under the additional hardship of reliving 
          traumatic events by describing them to unfamiliar medical 
          professionals.
              (12) According to the Institute of Medicine and 
          representatives of certain veterans' service organizations, 
          evaluations for pension and disability compensation for PTSD 
          are sometimes completed in as little as 20 minutes, despite 
          recommendations of the mental health community that evaluations 
          should take place over a period of one hour or more.
              (13) The Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission, 
          established pursuant to title XV of the National Defense 
          Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004, issued recommendations 
          to improve the care, compensation, and treatment of veterans 
          diagnosed with PTSD, including updating the schedule for rating 
          disabilities under section 1155 of title 38, United States 
          Code, establishing new criteria for the diagnosis and treatment 
          of PTSD, and using a holistic approach to treat veterans with 
          PTSD that incorporates treatment, compensation, and vocational 
          assessment.
  
  SEC. 3. STANDARD OF PROOF FOR SERVICE-CONNECTION OF POST-TRAUMATIC 
                STRESS DISORDER.
  
      (a) Standard of Proof.--Section 1154 of title 38, United States 
  Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
      ``(c) The Secretary shall accept as sufficient proof of service-
  connection of post-traumatic stress disorder alleged to have been 
  incurred in or aggravated by service in the active military, naval, or 
  air service a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder by a mental 
  health professional together with a written determination by the 
  professional that such disorder is related to the veteran's service, if 
  consistent with the circumstances, conditions, or hardships of such 
  service, notwithstanding the fact that there is no official record of 
  such incurrence or aggravation in such service, and, to that end, shall 
  resolve every reasonable doubt in favor of the veteran. Service-
  connection of post-traumatic stress disorder may be rebutted by clear 
  and convincing evidence to the contrary. In the case of such a 
  rebuttal, the Secretary shall make all documents related to the 
  service-connection of the veteran's disability available to the 
  veteran.''.
      (b) Applicability.--Subsection (c) of section 1154 of title 38, 
  United States Code, shall apply with respect to any claim for 
  disability compensation under laws administered by the Secretary of 
  Veterans Affairs for which no final decision has been made before the 
  date of the enactment of this Act.
  
  SEC. 4. IMPROVEMENT OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS EVALUATIONS OF 
                CLAIMS RELATING TO POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER.
  
      (a) Certification and Training for Certain Employees.--
              (1) Certification program.--
                      (A) Certification required.--The Secretary of 
                  Veterans Affairs shall require covered employees to 
                  successfully complete a certification program 
                  established by the Secretary. Such program shall 
                  include a periodic recertification requirement.
                      (B) Covered employees.--For the purposes of this 
                  paragraph, a ``covered employee'' is an employee of the 
                  Department of Veterans Affairs who is responsible for 
                  rating disabilities, evaluating claims for disability 
                  compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder, or 
                  adjudicating disability compensation ratings.
                      (C) Program requirements.--The certification 
                  program under subparagraph (A) shall--
                              (i) provide specialized training on the 
                          psychological and medical issues (including 
                          comorbidities) that characterize individuals 
                          with post-traumatic stress disorder and give 
                          guidance on how to appropriately manage 
                          commonly encountered problems in evaluating and 
                          rating such disorder; and
                              (ii) incorporate the recommendations 
                          contained in the Best Practice Manual for Post-
                          Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Compensation 
                          and Pension Examinations issued by the National 
                          Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder of 
                          the Department of Veterans Affairs.
                      (D) Review of requirements.--The Secretary shall 
                  regularly review and update the requirements for 
                  successfully completing the certification program under 
                  subparagraph (A) to take into consideration medical 
                  advances and to reflect lessons learned.
              (2) Training program.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
          shall provide training to support the certification program 
          required under paragraph (1).
      (b) Audits of Examinations.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
  shall conduct audits of the examinations conducted by employees of the 
  Department of Veterans Affairs of veterans who submit claims for 
  disability compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder to ensure 
  that such employees are taking sufficient time necessary to diagnose 
  and accurately rate the disorder.
      (c) Update of Schedule for Rating Disabilities.--Not later than 90 
  days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
  Veterans Affairs shall begin updating the schedule for rating 
  disabilities under section 1155 of title 38, United States Code. The 
  Secretary shall begin by updating the schedule with respect to post-
  traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and other mental 
  disorders. The Secretary shall complete such update not later than five 
  years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
      (d) New Criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.--The Secretary 
  of Veterans Affairs shall implement the criteria of the Diagnostic and 
  Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, specific to post-
  traumatic stress disorder and use such criteria for the purpose of 
  rating post-traumatic stress disorder pursuant to the schedule for 
  rating disabilities under section 1155 of title 38, United States Code.
      (e) Holistic Approach Required.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
  shall implement a holistic approach for providing treatment for 
  veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Such approach shall 
  combine treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, compensation, and 
  vocational assessment.
      (f) Treatment of Mental Health Records.--The Secretary of Veterans 
  Affairs shall require an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs 
  who is responsible for adjudicating disability compensation ratings, in 
  developing evidence for a claim for disability compensation to take 
  into consideration the following:
              (1) In the case of a veteran who has visited a center for 
          the provision of readjustment counseling and related mental 
          health services under section 1712A of title 38, United States 
          Code, any treatment records of the veteran from that center.
              (2) In the case of a veteran who has received mental health 
          services from a mental health professional, any written opinion 
          of that mental health professional submitted to the Department 
          by the veteran.
      (g) Consideration of Certain Materials.--In carrying out 
  subsections (c), (d), and (e), the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
  consider materials on post-traumatic stress disorder and mental health 
  provided by the National Center on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder of 
  the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Institute of Medicine.
      (h) Employee.--For purposes of this section, the term ``employee of 
  the Department of Veterans Affairs'' includes an employee of any entity 
  with which the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has entered into a 
  contract for the provision of conducting examinations or rating 
  disabilities for purposes of determining the amount of disability 
  compensation to be provided to a veteran under laws administered by the 
  Secretary.
  
  SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS.
  
      Not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this 
  Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Congress a 
  report on the implementation of this Act and the amendments made by 
  this Act. Such report shall include any evidence of fraud or abuse 
  relating to any provision of this Act or amendment made by this Act.
target: Full Faith in Veterans Act of 2008 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to accept as sufficient proof of service-connection of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) alleged to have been incurred in or aggravated by active military service a diagnosis of PTSD by a mental health professional, together with a written determination that such disorder is related to the veteran's service, if consistent with the circumstances, conditions, or hardships of such service, notwithstanding that there is no official record of such incurrence or aggravation during such service. Requires the Secretary to resolve every reasonable doubt in favor of the veteran. Allows PTSD service-connection to be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence.
  
  Directs the Secretary to require Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees responsible for rating disabilities, evaluating claims for disability compensation for PTSD, or adjudicating disability compensation ratings to complete a certification program established by the Secretary.
  
  Requires the Secretary to: (1) conduct audits of examinations of veterans who submit claims for disability compensation for PTSD; (2) update the schedule for rating disabilities with respect to PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and other mental disorders; (3) implement new PTSD criteria; (4) implement a holistic treatment approach for veterans with PTSD; and (5) require VA employees responsible for adjudicating disability compensation ratings to take into consideration veterans' treatment records from readjustment counseling centers and written opinions of mental health professionals.
feat_title: To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the disability compensation evaluation procedure of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, to improve the diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.