Veterans Affairs
Shinseki: US will fix broken VA disability system
Feb 22nd
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (AP) – Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said he’s making it a top priority this year to tackle the backlog of disability claims that has veterans waiting months — even years — to get financial compensation for their injuries.
Among those waiting for relief are sick Vietnam and Gulf War veterans to whom the former Army commander feels an allegiance and who have long felt ignored.
“I’m a kid out of the Vietnam era, I just have enough firsthand knowledge of folks walking around with lots of issues. If there’s a generation of veterans that have had a tough row to hoe, it’s the Vietnam generation,” said Shinseki, 67, in an interview with The Associated Press as he traveled through snowcapped mountains in Ohio and West Virginia between meetings with veterans.
Shinseki, a former Army chief of staff who had part of a foot blown off when he was a young officer in Vietnam, was unapologetic about a decision he made in October to make it easier for potentially 200,000 sick Vietnam veterans who were exposed to the Agent Orange herbicide to receive service-connected compensation.
He said it was the right thing to do, even though the claims volume will grow and it will likely take about two years to get the average claim-processing wait time back to where it is today, about five months.
There’s a chance Shinseki could also extend similar benefits to veterans from the 1991 Gulf War. A task force he appointed to look at their health is expected to release a report this week, which could eventually lead to thousands of additional sick Gulf war veterans receiving health care and compensation.
Shinseki said he’s often questioned why 40 years after the Vietnam war and nearly two decades after the Gulf War his agency is still trying to resolve issues related to those veterans’ illnesses.
Vietnam veterans with B-cell leukemias, Parkinson’s diseases and ischemic heart disease no longer have to prove their illness are the result of their military service. Shinseki determined after reviewing a study by the Institute of Medicine that the illnesses should be presumed to have come from the veteran’s war service, making it easier for them to receive financial compensation. The VA currently presumes that twelve other illnesses are linked to Agent Orange are exposure.
Shinseki said he’s looking ahead to make sure Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries don’t have similar problems getting financial compensation.
“I’m also asking the question, how do we ensure that 20 years from now, that future secretary isn’t answering questions about PTSD or TBI, sort of the signature injuries of this war in the same way that I’m having to look back and try to address these issues,” he said.
In recent years, resources have been poured into clearing the backlog, but problems persist. Besides the time it takes to process a claim, there are frequent complaints about lost paperwork and inconsistency in how claims are processed.
To start looking for solutions, Shinseki’s agency instigated pilot projects in Pittsburgh; Little Rock, Ark.; Providence, R.I.; and Baltimore that he says he’s watching closely. His plan is to reduce the backlog by 2015, which means a veteran wouldn’t wait more than four months for a claim to be processed.
The VA and Pentagon are also working together to create a universal electronic system with the goal of solving many of the claims challenges. Some of the collaboration is expected to be rolled out in 2012, although it could take years before the system is fully in place.
Shinseki, who became the Army’s chief of staff in 1999, is no stranger to change. In that role he sought to modernize and better prepare the Army for urban combat. In his current position, he’s highlighted the challenges veterans face, such as unemployment, suicide and homelessness.
In small gatherings in Chillicothe and Charleston, W.Va., he listened to complaints about the red tape veterans face and explained the work he’s doing to fix the claims backlog.
“We’re going to fine-tune each of the pieces and then put that engine back together again and look for better processing by the end of the year,” Shinseki said during a morning meeting with employees at the VA hospital in Chillicothe.
The employees listened quietly, not touching the pastries and juice put out for them, as he told them matter-of-factly that he knew the Agent Orange decision was going to add new claims.
“This backlog I just told you I’m going to knock down, I added to it, I know that,” he said.
Later in the morning, he told veteran advocates he wants vets to see the VA as an ally.
“In time, I’m hopeful this relationship will create a culture of advocacy between VA and veterans so that there is that sense, that trust between veterans that VA is working to their benefit,” he said.
Popularity: 23% [?]
Faster screening, treatment for TBI ahead
Jan 29th
By Kelly Kennedy–Military Times–
Military officials announced this week that the Defense Department will enforce a new protocol for ensuring service members with head injuries immediately get the care they need.
The system could prevent long-term cognitive problems for mild concussions, but also makes sure troops woozy from an injury don’t endanger themselves or others by going back out on patrol, said Kathy Helmick, senior director for the Traumatic Brain Injury Clinical Standards of Care Directorate at the Defense Centers for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.
“The real push this year is for early detection,” she told attendees of the Military Health System annual conference Tuesday.
This year in the war zones, Helmick said, mandatory screening will be required by a medic or corpsman for anyone who:
• Is within 50 meters of a blast or near a building damaged by a blast.
• Is in a vehicle that has been damaged by a blast.
• Receives a direct blow to the head.
• Says he lost consciousness or was seen losing consciousness.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Report on Virginia VA center finds problems
Jan 21st
By Rick Maze–Military Times
A new report from the Veterans Affairs Department inspector general will help fuel complaints about an error-filled disability claims process in need of a complete overhaul.
Investigators looking at claims processing at the VA regional office in Roanoke, Va., found that 25 percent of the case files they closely studied had serious mistakes. Some veterans were denied benefits they deserved, and disability compensation was given to others who were not eligible.
Many errors involved Vietnam veterans with disability claims related to exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange.
Popularity: 13% [?]
VA Reaching Out to Students and Schools to Speed Benefit Payments
Jan 20th
Just Recieved from VA–WASHINGTON In a coordinated effort to speed up the
processing of Post 9/11 GI Bill education benefits this spring, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that it has been reaching out to student Veterans, servicemembers, university officials and other partners to meet its commitment to an aggressive processing goal by Feb. 1, 2010. Feb. 1 is the first date spring payments are due and presently VA has processed over 72,000 of the approximately 103,000 spring enrollments received. Since inception of the historic new program last year, VA has paid over $1.3 billion in benefits to more than 170,000 students.
“Only by VA and all of our partners working together will students be better served,” said VA’s Acting Under Secretary for Benefits Mike Walcoff. “We are making a concerted effort to reach out to everyone to provide the timely benefits that those who served our nation deserve.”
Walcoff said there are “shared responsibilities” between VA, universities and the students to ensure the success of processing the education benefits on time.”
VA has sent letters to university presidents and school certifying officials, state Veterans affairs directors, and notified Veteran service organizations, congressional members and other education stakeholders highlighting VA’s emphasis on the importance of timely submission of school enrollment information.
VA also released a “Hip Pocket” guide and checklist, with helpful tips to assist Veterans in the application process. The guide and checklist can be found on college campuses and VA’s GI Bill Web site, www.gibill.va.gov.
VA is working to provide timely payments to all eligible Veterans to ensure that students are spared the financial hardships which some faced during the fall 2009 term.
To help address the high volume of claims received for the new Post-9/11 GI Bill, VA hired 530 employees, bringing the total number of education claims processors to 1,200. Employees have been working mandatory overtime since August 2009. Additionally, the department awarded a temporary contract to assist with education claims processing.
Veterans, servicemembers, reservists, and members of the National Guard who served on active duty since September 11, 2001 are potentially eligible for the new Post-9/11 GI Bill. It provides payments for tuition and fees, as well as a housing allowance and stipend for books and supplies for many participants.
Under the new GI Bill, some members of the armed forces may transfer benefits to a spouse or dependent children.
Information about the Post-9/11 GI Bill, as well as VA’s other educational benefit programs, is available at VA’s Web site, www.gibill.va.gov, or by calling 1-888-GIBILL-1 (or 1-888-442-4551).
Popularity: 14% [?]
Veterans minister plays down compensation figures
Jan 20th
By Online political correspondent Emma Rodgers
Veterans Affairs Minister Alan Griffin says figures which show thousands of troops have been injured or become ill in the past decade in overseas conflicts do not mean that the Defence Force is over-committed.
Around 4,000 military personnel from the East Timor operation and Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts have put in a claim after being injured or developing illnesses and conditions in the course of their deployment.
But Mr Griffin says soldiers are encouraged to make claims on all injuries so they are properly documented in case they develop related conditions further down the track.
“We estimate between 25,000 to 30,000 Australians have been deployed across conflicts [over the past decade],” he said.
“Of those injures, many are in fact minor, although quite a few are in fact very serious.
“What we’re committed to do is make sure that we’re providing those who have injuries and those who have wounds with the support and help that they need.
“That means they’ve got to put the claims in and we’ve got to consider them to make sure they get the health care they deserve.”
The National President of the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia Ron Coxon says the Department of Veterans Affairs has a “fair bit” of bureaucracy.
He has urged those putting in claims to seek help from an ex-service organisation, because an injury or condition they have now may cause other illnesses that will need treatment in the decades to come.
“If the wrong thing is put on a claim, if the wording is wrong or whatever, then it can affect the outcome of a claim,” he said.
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Popularity: 9% [?]
Taking the Bullet: Student Veterans’ BAH Payments
Jan 15th
By: Joshua Lawton-Belous
As student veterans head back to college many are feeling a financial pinch. The promises made by the Veterans Administration and many politicians have not come to pass. The Post 9/11 G.I. Bill BAH payments are still a mess, leaving many student veterans scrambling to find jobs, in a recession, in order to get by. How close is the Veterans Administration to fixing this mess? They processed today 7,344 applications. But how many more applications are left to process? The Veterans Administration has not released those numbers, nor do they provide them on their website.
Yet the problem with the current V.A. system is that the number of applications processed has not risen significantly enough to relieve the deluge of applications which have come in the Spring semester. While the verification process should be shorter for those who have already been processed for the Fall semester, the same two step process for both paying BAH payments and tuition is the same. Failing the introduction of a fail safe automated verification system, or the massive hiring and training of verifying officials, it is not foreseeable that student veterans will be able to rely on receiving their BAH checks.
Unfortunately many student veterans may be left in an academic purgatory by the lack of action on the part of the Veterans Administration. Schools with some of the largest student veteran populations in Virginia have not yet received tuition payments. Fortunately for student veterans attending George Mason University a policy has been set in place, allowing student veterans to register and graduate even if payment has not been made by the V.A. for their tuition. Yet only several miles away from George Mason University, student veterans at Northern Virginia Community College, are being prevented from registering due to absent V.A. tuition payments. This prevention by Northern Virginia Community College does not only prevent student veterans from enrolling in the Spring semester, but also from receiving BAH payments from the V.A. for the Spring semester.
While the focus of the V.A. and student veterans has been on BAH payments, the V.A. also needs to consider how much debt a college can take on before it becomes financially infeasible for the college to accept the current tuition payment situation. Like most institutions, colleges are facing budget cuts. These budget cuts are made worse by debt accrued on behalf of taking care of student veterans. The inability of the V.A. to pay tuition in a timely manner, may result in those universities which have generous tuition matchups under the Yellow Ribbon Program to either decrease the matchup amount or pull out of the Yellow Ribbon Program altogether.
If both the BAH and the tuition payment debacle can not be fixed at the same time, the Veterans Administration needs to concentrate on fixing one problem at a time. As cruel as it may sound to student veterans, the Veterans Administration needs to concentrate on fixing their tuition payment system. While this will take money out of the pockets of student veterans initially, the majority of student veterans would pay more in tuition payments than they would receive in BAH payments.
What should happen is not necessarily will happen. Unfortunately in either scenario student veterans are taking the bullet. But by fixing first the tuition payments and then the BAH payments, rather than trying to fix both at the same time, student veterans’ dreams of going to college will have a fighting chance.
Popularity: 18% [?]
Increase in suicide rate of veterans noted
Jan 11th
By Kimberly Hefling, AP–Washington
The suicide rate among 18- to 29-year-old men who’ve left the military has gone up significantly, the government said Monday.
The rate for these veterans went up 26 percent from 2005 to 2007, according to preliminary data from the Veterans Affairs Department. It’s assumed that most of the veterans in this age group served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
If there is a bright spot in the data, it’s that in 2007 veterans in the group who used VA health care were less likely to commit suicide than those who did not. That’s a change from 2005.
The military in recent years has struggled as well with an increase in suicides, with the Army seeing a record number last year. While the military frequently releases such data, it has been more difficult to track suicide information on veterans once they’ve left active duty.
The VA calculated the numbers using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers from 16 states. In 2005, the rate per 100,000 veterans among men ages 18-29 was 44.99, compared with 56.77 in 2007, the VA said. It did not release data for other population groups.
The VA and the military have sought to more aggressively tackle the problem in recent years with measures ranging from a suicide hot line to educational campaigns.
At a conference on Monday in Washington dedicated to addressing the issue, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said his agency needs to do a better job understanding what led to each suicide. He said he’d also like to see more stringent protocol put into place at VA facilities about how to handle a potentially suicide veteran, similar to what’s done with someone who’s having a heart attack.
He noted that of the 30,000 suicides each year in America, about 20 percent are committed by veterans.
“Why do we know so much about suicides but still know so little about how to prevent them?” Shinseki said. “Simple question but we continue to be challenged.”
Popularity: 17% [?]
GI Bill backlog climbs as new semester looms
Jan 7th
By Rick Maze – Military Times
With the latest numbers showing a still-rising backlog for Post-9/11 GI Bill claims, a key lawmaker says he doesn’t think the Veterans Affairs Department is ready for a flood of new claims for the spring semester.
Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee’s oversight and investigations panel, said he is “disappointed” with VA’s performance in the fall semester, which left 26,000 people still waiting for benefits when classes ended.
VA officials said most of those 26,000 veterans have now been paid. But VA’s Jan. 4 report on pending benefits claims shows that more than 48,000 Post-9/11 GI Bill claims are still being processed. Some of those could be for the spring semester.
“With a second semester only weeks away, I believe the situation remains unacceptable,” Mitchell said in a letter to VA, in which he noted he continues to get complaints about long waits.
“The confusion and uncertainty about when checks will arrive, coupled with the need to meet immediate expenses, is adding stress to veterans at a time when many are already struggling with [post-traumatic stress disorder],” Mitchell said.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Is U.S. prepared to care for more casualties from troop buildup?
Dec 7th
WASHINGTON — As the Obama administration ramps up the war in Afghanistan, veterans advocates say the government must develop a better plan to handle the wounded when they come home.
Eight years of war have overtaxed the health care systems that treat service members and veterans, several said, and President Barack Obama’s decision to deploy 30,000 to 35,000 more troops in Afghanistan will compound the stress.
Treatment at medical facilities that the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs operate is viewed as world class despite its well-publicized lapses. However, both often struggle to care for large numbers of soldiers and Marines with devastating physical and mental injuries.
Coordination between the military and the VA is often slow, veterans groups say, and waiting times to see doctors and process benefit claims are long. A recent VA investigation found that 11,000 claims filed at offices around the country were still unresolved after more than a year.
More disturbing still is that suicides by combat veterans are at record levels.
“A war plan has to include the care of vets on the back end,” said Paul Rieckhoff, the executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “What was lacking in the Iraq war was a plan for all the resources. We’re going to encourage them to not just think about bombs and bullets, but social workers and hospital beds.”
A spokesman for the U.S. Army Medical Command couldn’t be reached for comment. A VA spokeswoman declined to speak on the record, but said the Obama administration already had taken several steps to improve the delivery of health care to veterans.
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Popularity: 14% [?]
Craigslist Founder Joins VA Innovation Search Panel
Nov 6th
Craig Newmark to Help Pick Winners of National Competition
Veterans Affairs, WASHINGTON – Craig Newmark, the founder of “craigslist” and a well-known technology visionary, has agreed to serve on the blue-ribbon panel of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that will review and evaluate ideas to improve disability claims processing times and provide greater transparency to Veterans.
“Transforming VA into an organization that is Veteran-centric, results-oriented and forward-looking is my top priority,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “Leveraging the talent, innovation and creativity of stakeholders, like Craig Newmark, is just one of the many ways VA can think outside of the box to help deliver tangible results to our nation’s Veterans.”
The innovation competition solicited ideas from VA employees and members of Veterans Service Organizations who are on the front lines every day, working with Veterans to help deliver benefits they deserve and need. VA officials from each of the 57 regional offices across the country have submitted promising ideas, which will be reviewed by Newmark and other panel members. The panel will be chaired by Patrick W. Dunne, the VA Under Secretary for Benefits.
“I look forward to working with VA’s leadership team to bring tangible results to our Veterans,” said Craig Newmark. “I am very encouraged by the fact that VA is embracing new ways to look at old problems.”
In 1995, Newmark launched the first community site on the Internet for people to share information about housing, jobs and other needs. By April 2009, craigslist received more than 22 billion page-views per month, with more than 50 million members worldwide.
Newmark is a vocal proponent of using the Internet and technology to support government innovation and maximize the utilization of human capital. Additionally, Newmark is a passionate supporter of Veterans causes.
VA has received and reviewed over 3,000 suggestions since Sept. 8th. The panel will review the top 17 submissions and chose 5 projects that will receive full funding for project development and execution at the Regional Office that submitted the idea.
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Popularity: 8% [?]
