H.R. 1471 — VA Appeals Reform Act of 2025

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “VA Appeals Reform Act of 2025.”

This section revises the Department of Veterans Affairs claims-adjudication process by, among other things, requiring the Secretary to provide specified claim materials and contact information within 90 days of a claimant’s request, extending the duty to assist until the agency of original jurisdiction schedules a hearing, and requiring more detailed decision notices that include page citations, regulatory appendices, identified denial elements, appeal rights, diagnostic codes, and applicable regulations. It also allows a veteran to supplement the evidentiary record during higher-level review and requires return of a claim to the agency of original jurisdiction when a pre-decision duty-to-assist error is identified. This section further modifies supplemental claims and clear-and-unmistakable-error review by directing the Secretary to readjudicate a supplemental claim when new and material evidence is presented, when the Board identifies clear and unmistakable error, or when a later-enacted law or regulation permits the claim. As background, supplemental claims are one of the Department’s post-decision review options for veterans seeking reconsideration of denied benefits. The section also expands the definition of clear and unmistakable error to include manifest errors of law or fact that affected the outcome, as well as misinterpretations or misapplications of statutes and unambiguous regulations. This section replaces 38 U.S.C. § 5109B to require expedited treatment of claims returned by a higher-level adjudicator under section 5104B or remanded by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, and it sets a 90-day deadline for action after the return or remand date. The Board may extend that deadline for good cause on the claimant’s motion. This section also amends 38 U.S.C. § 5904(c) to revise the rules governing attorney fees for filing a notice of intent to appeal certain decisions.

This section revises 38 U.S.C. § 502 to provide that judicial review of certain actions of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(1) or 553 may be sought only in the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, rather than only in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. It leaves unchanged the rule that, when such review is sought in connection with an appeal under chapter 72 of title 38, chapter 72 governs instead of chapter 7 of title 5.