Sec. 4. Quarterly reports on formal and informal claims for benefits under laws administered by Secretary of Veterans Affairs
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During the five-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of Representatives quarterly reports on formal and informal claims submitted to the Secretary. Each such report shall include, for the 3-month period covered by the report— the total number of claims submitted to the Secretary; the total number of informal claims submitted to the Secretary; the total number of formal claims submitted to the Secretary; the total number of forms indicating an intent to file a claim for benefits submitted to the Secretary; the total number of claims notification letters that included an invitation to the claimant to submit an additional formal claim that was reasonably raised during the adjudication of the claim for which the notification letter is sent; of the claimants who received notification letters described in paragraph (5), the total number who submitted a formal claim in response to the invitation included in the letter; the total number of electronically filed claims submitted to the Secretary; and the total number of fully-developed claims submitted to the Secretary.
It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should develop a designated form for an increase or reopening of a claim that does not require the resubmittal of information previously submitted on a formal claim form. In this section: The terms claim , claimant , and formal claim have the meanings given such terms in section 5100 of title 38, United States Code, as amended by section 4. The term informal claim means a communication in writing requesting a determination of entitlement or evidencing a belief in entitlement, to a benefit under the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs that— is submitted in a format other than on an application form prescribed by the Secretary; indicates an intent to apply for one or more benefits under the laws administered by the Secretary; identifies the benefit sought; is made or submitted by a claimant, his or her duly authorized representative, a Member of Congress, or another person acting on behalf of a claimant who meets the requirements established by the Secretary for such purpose; and may include a report of examination or hospitalization, if the report relates to a disability which may establish such an entitlement.
The term reasonably raised with respect to a claim means that evidence of an entitlement to a benefit under the laws administered by the Secretary is inferred or logically placed at issue upon a sympathetic reading of another claim and the record developed with respect to that claim.