12 2 STA T .4 1 59PUBLIC LA W 11 0–38 9 —O CT. 10 , 2008 (b)EVALU A TION O FTR AININ G.—Notla t er t h a n one y ear a f ter the d ate of the ena c t m ent of th isA ct , the C om p troller G eneral of the U nited S tates shall— ( 1 )e v al u ate the trainin g programs administered for employees of the V eterans B enefits Administration of the D epartment of Veterans Affairs
and ( 2 ) submit to the Committee on Veterans ’ Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the H ouse of R epresentatives a report on the findings of the Comptroller General w ith respect to the evaluation described in paragraph (1). SEC.2 2 6 . S TUDYOFP E R FOR MAN CE MEASURES FOR C L A I MS AD J U - DICATIONS OF T H E V ETERANS B ENEFITS ADMINISTRA- TION. (a) STU DY OF W OR K CR E DIT SY S TE M AND WORK M ANAGEMENT SYSTEM RE Q UIRED.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall conduct a study on the effectiveness of the current employee wor k credit system and work management system of the Veterans Benefits Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is used— (1) to measure and manage the work production of employees of the Veterans Benefits Administration who handle claims for compensation and pension benefits; and (2) to evaluate more effective means of improving perform - ance. (b) CONTENTS OF STUDY.— I n carrying out the study under subsection (a), the Secretary shall consider— (1) measures to improve the accountability, q uality, and accuracy for processing claims for compensation and pension benefits under laws administered by the Secretary that are ad j udicated by the Veterans Benefits Administration; (2) accountability for claims adjudication outcomes; ( 3 ) the quality of claims adjudicated; ( 4 ) a simplified process to adjudicate claims; ( 5 )thema x imum use of information technology applica- tions; ( 6 ) rules-based applications and tools for processing and adjudicating claims efficiently and effectively; ( 7 ) methods of reducing the time required to obtain information from outside sources; and ( 8 ) the elements needed to implement— (A) performance standards and accountability meas- ures, intended to ensure that— (i) claims for benefits under the laws administered by the Secretary are processed in an objective, accurate, consistent, and efficient manner; and (ii) final decisions with respect to such claims are consistent and issued within the target identified in the most recent annual P erformance and Account- ability report submitted by the Secretary to Congress for the most recent fiscal year; (B) guidelines and procedures for the identification and prompt processing of such claims that are ready to rate upon submittal; (C) guidelines and procedures for the identification and prompt processing of such claims submitted by severely 38USC510 1 note.R e p o r t s . D e adli ne.
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