The Office of the Inspector General has conducted a review of the Office of Justice Programs' implementation of the Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act of 2003 in response to concerns expressed by several members of Congress that OJP was taking too long to process claims submitted under the act and that OJP's narrow interpretation of terms found in the act — in particular the phrases "non-routine stressful or strenuous physical activity" and "competent medical evidence to the contrary" might be resulting in a high rate of claims denials.

The report found that OJP improperly denied survivors' death benefits after the Justice Department decided they weren't responding to emergencies. The OIG made a number of additional recommendations to further manage and improve the claims process. These provisions are an important move forward in the recognition of occupational diseases that affect firefighters.

Click here to read the full report.

The Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act of 2003 amends the Public Safety Officer Benefits Act, and was signed into law on Dec. 15, 2003, establishing death benefits for public safety officers who die of heart attacks or strokes in the line of duty or within 24 hours of a triggering event while on duty. The HHA provision only covers deaths occurring on or after Dec. 15, 2003. The Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act is not retroactive, and therefore, it does not apply to deaths occurring before Dec. 15, 2003.

The United States Department of Justice was charged with establishing criteria to evaluate these claims. The first set of criteria was published by DOJ for public comment on July 26, 2005. An analysis conducted by the International Association of Fire Fighters at the time found that no firefighter heart attack deaths that had occurred since the law was enacted were payable under the proposed criteria. Major fire service organizations to led an effort to revise the criteria.

By early 2007, a revised set of criteria was in place. But despite significant input from the IAFF and other fire service organizations, DOJ was making unfavorable decisions on claims, while the process remained slow. In fact, by April of 2007, 200 cases were undecided, 38 had been disapproved and only two had been approved.

On April 20, 2007, eight major fire service organizations sent a letter to the president asking him to review the program’s implementation in accordance with the law he had signed almost three and a half years earlier.

Finally, in early October of 2007 the Director of the Bureau of Justice began a concerted effort to finally speed up the review of these claims.

However, as of March 2008, a total of only 114 claims were approved, 76 were not approved and 104 claims remain to be resolved. Many of the originally denied cases have been appealed and five have been approved on appeal to date.