12 2 STA T .4 4 3PUBLIC LA W 11 0– 1 8 1 —J A N .28 , 2008 evalu a tionb oa rdp er s onnel , in c ludin g p hy sical evaluation board liaison personnel, in conducting physical disability evaluations o f recovering service m embers .(E)U niform standards among the military depart - ments for the ma x imum number of physical disability evaluation cases of recovering service members that are pending before a physical disability evaluation board at any one time, and re q uirements for the establishment of additional physical disability evaluation boards in the event such number is exceeded. ( F ) Uniform standards and procedures among the mili- tary departments for the provision of legal counsel to recov- ering service members w hile undergoing evaluation by a physical disability evaluation board. ( G ) Uniform standards among the military depart- ments on the roles and responsibilities of non-medical care managers under section 16 11(e)( 4 ) and j udge advocates assigned to recovering service members undergoing evalua- tion by a physical disability board, and uniform standards on the maximum number of cases involving such service members that are to be assigned to judge advocates at any one time. (c) AS S E SS M E NTOFC ONSO LIDA TION OF D E P A R TMENT OF DEFENSE AND DEPARTMENT OF V ETERANS AFFAIRS DISA B ILIT Y E V AL U ATION S YSTEMS. — (1) I N G ENERAL.— T he Secretary of Defense and the Sec- retary of Veterans Affairs shall jointly submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on the feasability and advis- ability of consolidating the disability evaluation systems of the military departments and the disability evaluation system of the Department of Veterans Affairs into a single disability evaluation system. The report shall be submitted together with the report required by section 1611(a). ( 2 ) ELEMENTS.—The report required by paragraph (1) shall include the following
(A) An assessment of the feasability and advisability of consolidating the disability evaluation systems described in paragraph (1) as specified in that paragraph. ( B ) If the consolidation of the systems is considered feasible and advisable— (i) recommendations for various options for consoli- dating the systems as specified in paragraph (1)
and (ii) recommendations for mechanisms to evaluate and assess any progress made in consolidating the systems as specified in that paragraph. SEC.16 1 3 . R E TU R NOF RECO V ER I N G SERVICE M EM B ERS TO A CTIVE D UT Y INT H E ARMED FORCES. The Secretary of Defense shall establish standards for deter- minations by the military departments on the return of recovering service members to active duty in the Armed Forces. SEC. 161 4 . TRANSITION OF RECOVERING SERVICE MEMBERS FROM CARE AND TREATMENT THROUGH THE DE P ARTMENT OF DEFENSE TO CARE , TREATMENT, AND REHABI L ITATION THROUGH THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. (a) IN GENERAL.— N ot later than J uly1,2 0 0 8 , the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall jointly Deadlin e .Proc e s ses. Proced u res. St andards. 10U S C 10 7 1 note. Standards. 10 USC 1071 note. R e p orts.
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