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Several commenters expressed concern about the method of payment for the book stipend. Four of these commenters asked how the summer term or mini-terms would impact the payment, especially since many students do not attend the summer sessions. Two commenters suggested that VA redefine academic year so that individuals could receive the full book stipend and two commenters requested the method of calculating the book stipend be clarified. Based on these comments, we clarified the method VA will use to determine how the book stipend payment is calculated. A book stipend of up to $1,000 is available to veterans (and transferees). Section 3313(c)(1)(B)(ii) of title 38, U.S.C., provides a formula for determining the amount of the book stipend payable each academic year. The formula instructs VA to pay a portion of the book stipend equal to the amount determined by multiplying $1,000 by the fraction of the academic year that the term, quarter, or semester represents. We choose to divide the academic year by 24 credit hours (the minimum number of credit hours generally considered to be full-time for an undergraduate in an academic year). Using this calculation, an individual eligible for 100 percent of the amounts payable under the Post-9/11 GI Bill who is pursuing training at more than one- half-time will receive $41.67 for each credit hour certified up to 24 credit hours in an academic year.

c. Contract personnel who require access to national security programs must have a valid security clearance. National Industrial Security Program (NISP) was established by Executive Order 12829 to ensure that cleared U.S. defense industry contract personnel safeguard the classified information in their possession while performing work on contracts, programs, bids, or research and development efforts. The Department of Veterans Affairs does not have a Memorandum of Agreement with Defense Security Service (DSS). Verification of a Security Clearance must be processed through the Special Security Officer located in the Planning and National Security Service within the Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness.

Core Authorization is used to authorize disclosure preferences for health information sharing. The VLER Core project implements an infrastructure and architecture for secure electronic sharing of medical, benefits, and administrative information between Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and Department of Defense (DoD) systems, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and DoD clinicians, benefits staff members, and other consumers of Veterans Capability Area (VCA) 2 and VCA 3 information.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is responsible for providing federal benefits to veterans and their dependents by operating programs for health care, financial assistance, education, rehabilitation, insurance, and burial at national cemeteries. The Regional Federal Benefits Officer acts as the VA’s agent abroad, assisting veterans and beneficiaries with both the origination of new benefits claims and the administration of existing ones.

a. This directive establishes Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) policy towards the uncontrolled use of all removable storage media, especially Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices, throughout the Department. The provisions of this directive are applicable VA- wide.

SUMMARY : This document amends the regulations of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) concerning the reimbursement of medical care and services delivered to veterans for nonservice-connected conditions. This rule applies in situations where third- party payers are required to reimburse VA for costs related to care provided by VA to a veteran covered under the third- party payer’s plan. This final rule adds a new section barring offsets by third- party payers and requires that third- party payers submit a request for a refund for claims when there is an alleged overpayment.

2. On September 1, 2010, the Department of Veterans Affairs issued the Request for Quotations (RFQ), Secure VA-Chief Information Security Officer Support Services, Solicitation Number VA118-10-RQ-0742. The RFQ’s objective was to acquire services for improving and supporting VA’s information security, privacy, and risk management programs and to support the daily activities and responsibilities of the Office of Information Protection and Risk Management. Three contractors submitted bids in response to the RFQ. VA awarded the contract to Booz-Allen Hamilton for $133 million on September 28, 2010. VA received no formal protests in awarding this contract. We evaluated the Secure VA acquisition to determine whether the solicitation, proposal evaluation, and contract award processes were conducted in line with full and open competition requirements. To conduct our evaluation, we reviewed the RFQ and related documents, developed a timeline of events related to the acquisition, and identified and interviewed relevant personnel.

(a) Unless otherwise authorized by VA policy, a VA police officer will not possess or introduce a firearm on VA property while scheduled for VA duty even though the officer may be authorized or required to possess that firearm by virtue of non-VA employment or any other reason. For more detailed information on firearms and VA police, see VA Directive 0720, Program to Arm Department of Veterans Affairs Police and VA Handbook 0720, Procedures to Arm Department of Veterans Affairs Police.

Abstract—We investigated the determinants of inpatient reha- bilitation costs in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and examined the relationship between length of stay (LOS) and discharge costs using data from VA and community rehabilita- tion hospitals. We estimated regression models to identify patient characteristics associated with specialized inpatient rehabilitation costs. VA data included 3,535 patients dis- charged from 63 facilities in fiscal year 2001. We compared VA costs to community rehabilitation hospitals using a sample from the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation of 190,112 patients discharged in 1999 from 697 facilities. LOS was a strong predictor of cost for VA and non-VA hospitals. Functional status, measured by Functional Independence Mea- sure (FIM) scores at admission, was statistically significant but added little explanatory value after controlling for LOS. Although FIM scores were associated with LOS, FIM scores accounted for little variance in cost after controlling for LOS. These results are most applicable to researchers conducting cost-effectiveness analyses.

Garnishment sent to you. I am an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs. I am responsible for conducting hearings on objections to garnishment, and am part of a unit of the Department that is responsible for conducting hearings and deciding objections. I have no responsibility for collecting this debt, and I have no responsibility for negotiating repayment terms if you were to desire to repay voluntarily either in the course of this hearing or later. During this hearing, you will be permitted to present oral testimony and written documentation and to present argument to support your belief that the Department should not garnish your wages to collect this debt. Furthermore, you will be granted an additional 10 working days after we finish this oral hearing to submit any additional evidence before a decision is rendered in this matter.

DATES : Comments must be received by VA on or before December 30, 2013. ADDRESSES : Written comments may be submitted through www.regulations.gov; by mail or hand-delivery to the Director, Regulations Management (02REG), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW., Room 1068, Washington, DC 20420; or by fax to (202) 273–9026. (This is not a toll-free number.) Comments should indicate that they are submitted in response to ‘‘RIN 2900–AO81—Standard Claims and Appeals Forms.’’ Copies of comments received will be available for public inspection in the Office of Regulation Policy and Management, Room 1063B, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday (except holidays). Please call (202) 461–4902 for an appointment. (This is not a toll-free number.) In addition, during the comment period, comments may be viewed online through the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) at www.regulations.gov.

The Veterans and Dependents Education Loan Program was established by the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-508) in Chapter 36 of Title 38 U.S.C. to provide additional support to veterans attending high-cost institutions. Veterans who served on active duty after January 31, 1955, and before January 1, 1977 (later modified to active duty after January 31, 1955, by P.L. 94-502, enacted in 1976), and their spouses, widows, and children were eligible to borrow. Eligible individuals also had to be enrolled at least half-time in a program of education leading to a standard college degree or a six-month non-college degree. Loans were not eligible for correspondence courses or apprentice and on-the-job training. Veterans who were full- time students were allowed loans for another two years of their remaining dollars of entitlement once the VEAP entitlement period ended. Repayment began nine months after enrollment dropped below half-time and was completed within ten years.

(8) The initial rate of pay for RTs, PTs, LPNs, OTs, and pharmacists who have prior VA or other Federal civilian service may be set by the approving official at any step rate of the gr[r]

Accurate data for mortality ascertainment are of critical importance for epidemiologic and health care outcomes studies. One of the national mortality databases in the U.S. is the Beneficiary Identification and Record Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File that contains death dates of those who have received any benefits from the Depart- ment of Veterans Affairs (VA) since the early 1970s. This database has been widely used as the main source of death dates for veterans who received health care from the VA [1-5]. The completeness of this database has been shown to vary widely from cohort to cohort, ranging between 70.0% and 96.5% [6-12] in sensitivity or the percentage of death dates that are correctly recorded.

The Defense Department has implemented policy for transferring educational benefits to the spouses and children of service members under the “Post 9/11 GI Bill,” which takes effect Aug. 1, 2009. Career service members on active duty or in the selected reserve on Aug. 1, 2009, and who are eligible for the “Post 9/11 GI Bill,” may be entitled to transfer all or a portion of their education entitlement to one or more family members. To be eligible, service members must have served in the Armed Forces for at least six years, and agree to serve four additional years, from the date of election to transfer.

(4) Sex reassignment surgery. Sex reassignment surgery includes any of a variety of surgical procedures (including vaginoplasty and breast augmentation in MtF transsexuals and mastectomy and phalloplasty in FtM transsexuals) done simultaneously or sequentially with the explicit goal of transitioning from one sex to another. This term includes surgical revision of a previous sex reassignment surgery for cosmetic purposes. NOTE: This term does not apply to non-surgical therapy (e.g., hormone therapy, mental health care, etc.) or intersex Veterans in need of surgery to correct inborn conditions related to reproductive or sexual anatomy or to correct a functional defect.

improvement and program evaluation studies to support time-sensitive implementation and evaluation efforts needed to improve healthcare for the nation’s veterans [47]. This project received funding through a peer- reviewed QUERI-VISN Partnered Implementation Initia- tive (PII) grant that requires partnership between VISN leadership (director or chief medical officer) and an im- plementation expert. The grant provides 1 year of fund- ing for planning and conducting an implementation pilot at a facility within the VISN. The focus of QUERI- VISN PII grants is improving veteran health by rapidly implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) and plan- ning for scale-up and spread across the VISN. Teams then apply for additional PII funding to facilitate EBP spread across the VISN and other VISNs, with a goal of enterprise-wide scale-up and spread.

In order to establish uniformity in the preservation of properties, VA is providing the following directions for specific activities: securing, debris removal, boarding, equipment repa[r]

a. Veterans residing in a CNH at VA expense receive a full range of care which includes a room, meals, nursing care, routine medical provider visits, medications included with the per diem allowance, minimal laboratory and radiology services, and other special services and supplies normally provided for community nursing home residents. The provision of this comprehensive convalescent care is intended to minimize the need for veterans to travel to other locations for routine care.

Resolution: The VISN and Medical Center have established that 30 patient care records will be reviewed, along with ongoing professional practice evaluation (OPPE) data, for each ph[r]