The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to amend regulations under the Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) program to ensure veterans' requests to forgo, suspend, reduce, or terminate their benefits and services may be processed timely and without unnecessary delays. The current regulation requires VR&E to provide at least 30 days advance notice and opportunity for response before taking such actions, even in cases where VR&E is acting on a veteran's request. VA also proposes to clarify existing regulatory exceptions to advance notice to reduce or eliminate potential overpayments for veterans.
Comments close Aug 3, 2026
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to amend its regulations implementing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) to eliminate disparate-impact liability. These amendments would align VA's regulations with Title VI's original public meaning, avoid constitutional concerns, reduce compliance costs, serve the public interest, and implement changes directed in Executive Order (E.O.) 14281. This is a deregulatory action in furtherance of E.O. 14219, which requires that Federal regulations reflect the best reading of the underlying statutory authority.
Comments close Jul 27, 2026
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is issuing this interim final rule to amend its agency procedures for implementing the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Since VA last updated its NEPA regulations in 1989, Congress amended NEPA through the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, the Council on Environmental Quality rescinded its NEPA regulations, and substantial changes have occurred in VA's delivery of care and benefits to veterans. The revisions to VA's NEPA regulations improve the efficiency and quality of VA's NEPA process and align the NEPA process with decision-making across VA by more clearly focusing on the planning stages of VA actions, improving consistency in NEPA implementation throughout VA, updating the VA categorical exclusion list to reflect current VA activities, and complying with NEPA, as revised.
Comments close Jul 15, 2026
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposes to revise the Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance to improve government- wide policies and requirements related to the management of grants, cooperative agreements, and other forms of assistance. OMB is proposing revisions that would improve transparency, accountability, and oversight for Federal awards across the Federal Government. This includes ensuring that American tax dollars are not wasted or misused, activities performed under Federal awards are consistent with law and policy, and recipients are held accountable when they fail to meet relevant standards. The revisions also aim to ensure that basic American principles of equality and equal opportunity are upheld throughout all stages of the award making process and that unlawful discrimination is no longer permitted. Proposed changes also include providing further clarification on the regulatory status of the OMB requirements and on the process for future updates to the government- wide requirements. Finally, OMB also proposes changes to reduce recipient burden. The listed Federal grant-making agencies propose conforming changes to their respective adopting regulations, or, in the case of some agencies and other entities, establishing new adopting regulations or policies. The proposed changes reflect the administration's commitment to transparency, accountability, and proper oversight for the Federal grantmaking process. The proposed regulations seek to ensure that American tax dollars are ultimately used to serve the needs of the American public.
Comments close Jul 13, 2026
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to amend its regulation that governs disclosure of information to and querying of State prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs). The rule would clarify certain statutory definitions, including the definition of delegate and licensed health care provider. In doing so, VA would eliminate confusion as to who VA would allow to query the PDMP and would better protect these individuals from any possible adverse action by a State, as long as they are acting within the scope of their VA employment or, if applicable, scope of their contract. The rule would also mandate that VA disclose the specified information to State PDMPs to the extent necessary to prevent misuse and diversion of prescription medicines. This proposed rule would promote safe and effective prescribing of controlled substances to covered individuals and patients who receive VA health care.
Comments close Jul 20, 2026
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to amend the regulations pertaining to the Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) Chapter 31 program to ensure the planning of rehabilitation programs for eligible veterans and dependents is based on information from current treatment providers and not individuals on a panel who never treated the veteran or dependent. Current regulations require consultation with a panel of individuals who are not involved in the direct care or treatment of the veteran or dependent. As such consultation is not statutorily required, VA proposes to eliminate this unnecessary process, which often adds avoidable delays to veterans' access to benefits, and streamline decision-making based on providers who actually know the veteran's needs.
Comments close Jul 6, 2026
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to amend two of its State Veterans Home (State home) regulations. One amendment would define medical model adult day health care (MMADHC). The other would codify into regulation VA's ability to enter into State Home Care Agreements (SHCA) for MMADHC and pay for services rendered. Additionally, this rulemaking proposes the methodology for the payment rate.
Comments close Apr 21, 2026
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) amends 38 CFR 4.10 within the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD). This amendment clarifies VA's longstanding interpretation of Sec. 4.10 and, in doing so, amends the text to correct judicial interpretations that VA has concluded misconstrue the role of medication and treatment in evaluating functional impairment. Specifically, this amendment clarifies that veterans should be compensated for the actual level of functional impairment they experience and, therefore, that the ameliorative effects of medication should not be estimated or discounted when evaluating the severity of a veteran's disability at the time of the disability examination. This regulation is needed immediately to minimize the negative impact of an erroneous line of cases culminating in the recent decision of Ingram v. Collins, 38 Vet. App. 130 (2025), which could be applied broadly to over 500 separate diagnostic codes, requiring re-adjudications of over 350,000 currently pending claims. This in turn would overburden VA's claims adjudicatory capacity. In addition, Ingram requires VA to retrain all of its medical examiners and adjudicators to make assessments and decisions based not on the evidence before them but instead based on what they hypothesize the evidence would show if a veteran's disability were left untreated. For these and other reasons explained below, this regulation is critical to the integrity of the VA disability claims system.
Comments close Apr 20, 2026
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to revise diagnostic code (DC) 7009, Bradycardia (Bradyarrhythmia), to provide a minimum 10% evaluation after pacemaker implantation. This revision will allow VA to align DC 7009 with DC 7018, Implantable cardiac pacemakers. VA also proposes to remove Note (1) found under DC 7009.
Comments close Mar 31, 2026
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to amend the Veteran Readiness and Employment and Education regulations to incorporate the provisions of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017 (Colmery Act) that created the Edith Nourse Rogers STEM Scholarship (STEM Scholarship), which provides up to nine months of additional Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to certain eligible individuals. This proposed rulemaking, which includes the rules necessary to provide this educational assistance to eligible individuals, would also incorporate the provisions of the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020 (Isakson-Roe Act) that further expanded the eligibility for the STEM Scholarship to individuals enrolled in a dual degree program that includes an undergraduate degree in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field and to certain individuals enrolled in a covered clinical training program for health care professionals.
Comments close Mar 16, 2026
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to remove the note under diagnostic code (DC) 7629 requiring an endometriosis diagnosis that is confirmed by laparoscopy. This update would ensure the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD) continues to align with current medical practice and would expedite the process for establishing service connection.
Comments close Dec 1, 2025
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to revise 38 CFR 4.118, diagnostic code (DC) 7804 ("Scar(s), unstable or painful"), by adding a note clarifying that VA still requires objective evidence of pain when rating a scar as painful. The inclusion of this note would align with current policy and ensure consistent application of the rating criteria.
Comments close Nov 28, 2025
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) publishes a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) to amend its definitions of the terms "independent study," "distance learning," and "resident learning," and to establish a new term, "standard curriculum." These proposed amendments, which distinguish distance learning from resident learning and independent study from standard curriculum, address concerns from VA stakeholders who view independent study and distance learning as having distinct and separate meanings and clarify State Approving Agency (SAA) jurisdiction over courses taken solely by distance learning.
Comments close Nov 3, 2025
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is proposing to reinstate the full exclusion on abortions and abortion counseling from the medical benefits package, which was removed in 2022. Before that time, this exclusion had been firmly in place since the medical benefits package was first established in 1999. VA is also proposing to reinstate the exclusions on abortion and abortion counseling for Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) that were removed in 2022. We take this action to ensure that VA provides only needed medical services to our nation's heroes and their families.
Comments close Sep 3, 2025
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to amend the Veteran Readiness and Employment and Education regulations to implement section 1019 of the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020 (Isakson Roe Act), which was effective January 5, 2021. These proposed amendments would update regulations governing the waiver or recovery of overpayments to address the assignment of financial responsibility for benefits paid directly to an educational institution on behalf of the student.
Comments close Sep 29, 2025
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to revise its medical regulations to add a new method of notification for emergency treatment that is furnished by community providers to be authorized under the Veterans Community Care Program.
Comments close Sep 22, 2025
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is issuing this interim final rule (IFR) to amend its adjudication regulations to establish presumptive service connection for acute leukemias, chronic leukemias, multiple myelomas, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), and myelofibrosis due to exposure to Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM<INF>2.5</INF>). The new presumptions would apply to veterans who served on active military, naval, air, or space service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations or Somalia during the Persian Gulf War (hereafter Gulf War) on or after August 2, 1990, and in Afghanistan, Syria, Djibouti, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Yemen during the Gulf War on or after September 11, 2001.
Comments close Mar 11, 2025
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to revise its medical regulations to exempt Whole Health well-being services from the copayment requirements for inpatient hospital care and outpatient medical care. These Whole Health well-being services, which consist of Whole Health education and skill-building programs and complementary and integrative health well-being services, are provided to Veterans within the VA Whole Health System of Care to improve Veterans' overall health and well-being.
Comments close Mar 4, 2025
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is rescinding obsolete regulations that were previously implemented for the Veterans Choice Program, which has been replaced by the Veterans Community Care Program as of June 6, 2019.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adopts as final, with minor changes, a proposed rule amending its medical regulations to add a new method for veterans, their representatives, and eligible entities or providers to notify VA for the determination of whether emergency treatment can be authorized under the Veterans Community Care Program (VCCP). This will streamline the notification process and make it easier for veterans to have their care authorized under VCCP.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is rescinding its regulations that govern the Rural Veterans Coordination Pilot (RVCP) grant program because the statutory authority for this program has expired. Removing these provisions will ensure that VA's regulations accurately reflect current law and programs, eliminate potential confusion regarding the availability of the RVCP grant program, and promote regulatory clarity and transparency. This is a deregulatory action in furtherance of Executive Order 14219, which requires that Federal regulations reflect the best reading of underlying statutory authority.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is withdrawing a document published in the Federal Register on December 17, 2024, that requested public comment on VA's proposal to revise its medical regulations to allow VA to initiate a waiver request for debt accumulated from health care copayments on behalf of veterans in certain circumstances and to remove the requirement that veterans submit VA Form 5655 when seeking a waiver of copayment debt. VA is withdrawing the proposed rule because VA has determined the proposed regulation is no longer necessary.
VA is rescinding the interim final rule, Evaluative Rating: Impact of Medication, published on February 17, 2026, and restoring the prior regulatory text. This rescission is effective immediately upon publication.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is removing a regulation that was adopted to provide temporary flexibility under VA's Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) but is no longer applicable. The regulation relaxed PCAFC requirements for in-person home visits during the national emergency related to Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19). The removal of this regulation is appropriate because the national emergency related to COVID-19 (COVID- 19 National Emergency) has ended and the regulation has no effect.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is withdrawing the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on November 7, 2024 (89 FR 88192) and proposed amendments to its regulations governing Legal Services, the Office of General Counsel, and Miscellaneous Claims. VA is withdrawing this proposed rule because of ongoing assessments of agency needs, priorities, and objectives.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) amends its adjudication regulations concerning survivors benefits claims to ensure that VA provides the most beneficial outcome for surviving spouses and children. This final rule clarifies that a surviving spouse or child claimant for either Survivors Pension or dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) is entitled to the greater benefit. Thus, with respect to claims processing, VA will concurrently deny Survivors Pension and award DIC, except where paying Survivors Pension would be more beneficial to the claimant, which will only be the case if the claimant is the veteran's surviving spouse and the claimant's application indicates that the claimant does not have any dependents, is currently in a nursing home, and has applied for or is currently receiving Medicaid.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is withdrawing the advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) published in the Federal Register on October 17, 2022, that requested public comment on expanding VA's incentivized loss-mitigation options available to servicers that assist veterans whose VA-guaranteed loans are in default. VA is withdrawing this ANPRM because of ongoing assessments of agency needs, priorities, and objectives. VA will continue to explore opportunities to assist veterans who face home loan default.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is withdrawing a document published in the Federal Register on April 19, 2022, that requested public comment on revising VA's regulations governing the assignment of a performance-based tier ranking to each of the servicers that participate in VA's guaranteed home loan program. VA is withdrawing this advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) because of ongoing assessments of agency needs, priorities, and objectives.
This final rule amends Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regulations to limit the circumstances in which benefits will be apportioned and to stop making need-based apportionments. Currently, in limited situations, VA may pay a portion of a VA beneficiary's monetary benefits directly to the beneficiary's dependent, referred to as an apportionment. To qualify, the dependent cannot reside with the beneficiary, must demonstrate financial need, and the apportionment must not cause financial hardship to the beneficiary. VA claims processors, whose expertise is in VA benefits and not in matters related to child or spousal support, decide whether to take monetary benefits from the beneficiary and reallocate the funds to dependents. VA claims processors can take this action without the consent of the beneficiary. These apportionment decisions, which can have significant financial consequences, are based on both parties' self-reported income and self-reported expenses. Unlike State courts, VA has no ability to compel evidence of income and expenses. Allegations of inadequate child or spousal support involve complex issues of family law that are best suited to the expertise and authority of State courts. VA apportionments can upset the expectations upon which a State court support award was predicated, requiring a State court to expend additional resources to revisit a prior determination. Finally, due to their intricacy, a significant amount of information is needed to adjudicate apportionment claims properly. While this information is typically available to State courts, VA must attempt to gather this information from the VA beneficiary and the beneficiary's dependent, which is unavoidably a time-consuming process. The time and effort needed to gather this information increases VA workloads and consumes resources that are better utilized to process veterans' claims. Because VA apportionment awards may conflict with the awards of better-situated State family courts, and because VA lacks the authority and expertise to make fully informed, accurate, and economically appropriate awards, VA is amending its regulations to discontinue making need-based apportionment awards. VA will continue making apportionment awards in situations when a veteran or surviving spouse is incarcerated, or when an incompetent veteran, who does not have a fiduciary, is institutionalized at government expense. VA will not discontinue any current apportionments because of this rulemaking.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adopts as final, without changes, a proposed rule to reinstate the exclusions on abortions and abortion counseling from the medical benefits package, which were removed in 2022. Before 2022, these exclusions had been firmly in place since the medical benefits package was first established in 1999. VA is also adopting as final, without changes, the reinstatement of exclusions on abortion and abortion counseling for the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) that were also removed in 2022. VA takes this action to ensure that VA provides only needed and medically necessary and appropriate care to our nation's heroes and CHAMPVA beneficiaries.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its regulations that govern the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) Traumatic Injury Protection (TSGLI) program to correct an unintended amendment to the TSGLI Schedule of Losses for payments for inability to perform at least two activities of daily living (ADL) for 15, 30, 60, and 90 consecutive day periods as a result of a traumatic injury other than a traumatic brain injury.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is finalizing, with technical changes, a proposed rule to amend the time period that a debtor has to request a waiver from 180 days to one year, as mandated by the Cleland Dole Act. Generally, VA is authorized to not recover debts related to benefits payments or overpayments where recovery would be against good conscience and an application for relief is made within the required time period. Allowing an additional six months to request a waiver reduces pressure on veterans by easing the compliance burden.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is withdrawing a document published in the Federal Register on January 3, 2025, that requested public comment on VA's proposal to revise its medical regulations to exempt Whole Health well-being services from the copayment requirements for inpatient hospital care and outpatient medical care. VA is withdrawing the proposed rule due to ongoing assessments of agency needs, priorities, and objectives.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adopts as final, with changes, a proposed rule to amend its medical regulations that govern VA's health care professionals who practice health care via telehealth. This final rule implements the authorities of the VA MISSION Act of 2018 and the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. This final rule enables VA to maximize health care resource utilization and provide safe and convenient national health care to veterans using telehealth. It also strengthens VA's role in supporting national and State responses to war, terrorism, national emergencies and natural disasters.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) amends its regulations governing Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI), Family SGLI (FSGLI), and Veterans' Group Life Insurance (VGLI) to allow an alternate applicant to apply for an Accelerated Benefit in certain circumstances. VA also defines key terms and removes contact information and the reproduction of the Accelerated Benefit application form from the text of the regulations.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adopts as final, with changes, an interim final rule that amended VA's regulations governing the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) and extended the transition period for legacy participants, legacy applicants, and their Family Caregivers (the legacy cohort) through September 30, 2025. This final rule will further extend the transition period for the legacy cohort through September 30, 2028.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adopts as final, with one technical change, a proposed rule to amend its regulations governing the confidentiality and release of VA records subject to the Privacy Act of 1974. This rulemaking exempts portions of the new "Law Enforcement Officer Evaluations (LEO Evals)--VA" (216VA10) system of records from certain provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974 to prevent compromising the objectivity and fairness of the testing and evaluation process.
Abstract not supplied.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is issuing this final rule to update its regulation governing a beneficiary's receipt of education assistance from two or more programs. This action is necessary to implement a statutory amendment enacted in August 2012, which authorized an 81-month aggregate period for use of Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance (Chapter 35) benefits in combination with other programs listed in the statute. This rulemaking amends the regulation to align it with the current statutory text.
Abstract not supplied.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adopts as final, without changes, a proposed rule to remove its regulations governing the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB). Instead, VA will rely on Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations that govern the NPDB, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between VA and HHS, and VA policy and procedures.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its regulations that govern VA's administration of educational assistance programs to implement the provisions of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010, which modified the manner in which payments of educational assistance are determined and expanded the types of programs students may pursue under the Post-9/11 GI Bill; section 1002 of the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2009, which authorized the "Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship;" and a select number of provisions of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its regulations to adjust for inflation the amount of civil monetary penalties that are within VA's jurisdiction. These adjustments comply with the requirement in the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, to make annual adjustments to the penalties.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is issuing this interim final rule (IFR) to amend its adjudication regulations to establish presumptive service connection for urinary bladder, ureter, and related genitourinary (GU) cancers due to exposure to Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM<INF>2.5</INF>) and to implement certain provisions of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 (PACT Act). The new presumptions would apply to Veterans who served on active military, naval, air, or space service in Southwest Asia theater of operations or Somalia during the Persian Gulf War (hereafter Gulf War) on or after August 2, 1990, and in Afghanistan, Syria, Djibouti, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Yemen during the Gulf War on or after September 11, 2001. This amendment is necessary to provide expeditious health care, services, and benefits to these veterans. This IFR addresses the needs and concerns of Gulf War veterans and Service members who have served and continue to serve in these locations and have been diagnosed with bladder, ureter, and related GU cancers. Neither Congress nor the President has established an end date for the Gulf War. Therefore, to expedite the provision of health care, services, and benefits to current and future Gulf War veterans who may be affected by PM<INF>2.5</INF> due to their military service, VA is establishing presumptive service connection for urinary bladder, ureter, and related GU cancers. This IFR will ease the evidentiary burden of Gulf War Veterans who file claims with VA for these conditions.
