OATH Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1680 To amend title 10, United States Code, to enhance recordkeeping with respect to exposure by members of the Armed Forces to certain occupational and environmental hazards while deployed overseas, and for other pur- poses. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 23 (legislative day, MAY 22), 2019 Mr. TESTER (for himself, Mrs. BLACKBURN, and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To amend title 10, United States Code, to enhance record- keeping with respect to exposure by members of the Armed Forces to certain occupational and environmental hazards while deployed overseas, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Service Member’s Oc- 4 cupational and Environmental Transparency Health Act’’ 5 or the ‘‘OATH Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1680.IS S1680 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1680 IS SEC. 2. INFORMATION REQUIRED TO BE ADDED TO MED- 1 ICAL RECORDS OF CERTAIN MEMBERS OF 2 THE ARMED FORCES. 3 (a) OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH 4 RISKS IN DEPLOYMENT AREA.— 5 (1) ELEMENTS OF MEDICAL TRACKING SYS- 6 TEM.—Subsection (b)(1)(A) of section 1074f of title 7 10, United States Code, is amended— 8 (A) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 9 end; 10 (B) in clause (iii), by striking the period at 11 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 12 (C) by adding at the end the following new 13 clause: 14 ‘‘(iv) accurately record any exposure to oc- 15 cupational and environmental health risks dur- 16 ing the course of their deployment.’’. 17 (2) RECORDKEEPING.—Subsection (c) of such 18 section is amended by inserting after ‘‘deployment 19 area’’ the following: ‘‘(including the results of any 20 assessment performed by the Secretary of occupa- 21 tional and environmental health risks for such 22 area)’’. 23 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 24 by this subsection shall take effect on the date of the 25 enactment of this subsection. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1680.IS S1680 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1680 IS (b) BURN PIT REGISTRY.— 1 (1) UPDATES TO ELECTRONIC HEALTH 2 RECORDS.—Beginning not later than one year after 3 the date of the enactment of this Act— 4 (A) the Secretary of Defense shall ensure 5 that the electronic health record maintained by 6 such Secretary of a member of the Armed 7 Forces registered with the burn pit registry is 8 updated with any information contained in such 9 registry; and 10 (B) the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 11 ensure that the electronic health record main- 12 tained by such Secretary of a veteran registered 13 with the burn pit registry is updated with any 14 information contained in such registry. 15 (2) BURN PIT REGISTRY DEFINED.—In this 16 subsection, the term ‘‘burn pit registry’’ means the 17 registry established under section 201 of the Dig- 18 nified Burial and Other Veterans’ Benefits Improve- 19 ment Act of 2012 (Public Law 112–260; 38 U.S.C. 20 527 note). 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1680.IS S1680 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1680 IS SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR POSTDEPLOY- 1 MENT MEDICAL EXAMINATION AND HEALTH 2 REASSESSMENTS. 3 (a) POSTDEPLOYMENT MEDICAL EXAMINATION AND 4 REASSESSMENTS.—Section 1074f of title 10, United 5 States Code, as amended by section 2, is further amended 6 by adding at the end the following new subsection: 7 ‘‘(g) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR 8 POSTDEPLOYMENT MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS AND 9 HEALTH REASSESSMENTS.—(1) The Secretary of Defense 10 shall— 11 ‘‘(A) standardize and make available to a pro- 12 vider that conducts a postdeployment medical exam- 13 ination or reassessment under the system described 14 in subsection (a) questions relating to occupational 15 and environmental health exposure; and 16 ‘‘(B) prior to an examination or reassessment 17 of a member of the armed forces, require such pro- 18 vider to review information applicable to such mem- 19 ber— 20 ‘‘(i) in a Periodic Occupational and Envi- 21 ronmental Monitoring Summary (or any suc- 22 cessor document); and 23 ‘‘(ii) on the Defense Occupational and En- 24 vironmental Health Readiness System (or any 25 successor system). 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1680.IS S1680 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1680 IS ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall ensure that the medical 1 record of a member includes information on the external 2 cause relating to a diagnosis of the member, including by 3 associating an external cause code (as issued under the 4 International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Re- 5 lated Health Problems, 10th Revision (or any successor 6 revision)).’’. 7 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 8 this section shall take effect on the date that is 180 days 9 after the date of the enactment of this section. 10 SEC. 4. REPORT BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE 11 UNITED STATES. 12 (a) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 13 of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of 14 the United States shall submit to the congressional de- 15 fense committees, the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 16 the Senate, and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 17 House of Representatives a report containing an evalua- 18 tion of the implementation of this Act (and the amend- 19 ments made by this Act), including an assessment of the 20 extent to which the Secretary of Defense and Secretary 21 of Veterans Affairs are in compliance with the applicable 22 requirements of this Act (and the amendments made by 23 this Act). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1680.IS S1680 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1680 IS (b) CONGRESSIONAL DEFENSE COMMITTEES DE- 1 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘congressional defense 2 committees’’ has the meaning given that term in section 3 101(a)(16) of title 10, United States Code. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1680.IS S1680 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS