Veterans Affairs
18 veterans commit suicide each day
Apr 23rd
By Rick Maze–Military Times 
Troubling new data show there are an average of 950 suicide attempts each month by veterans who are receiving some type of treatment from the Veterans Affairs Department.
Seven percent of the attempts are successful, and 11 percent of those who don’t succeed on the first attempt try again within nine months.
The numbers, which come at a time when VA is strengthening its suicide prevention programs, show about 18 veteran suicides a day, about five by veterans who are receiving VA care.
Access to care appears to be a key factor, officials said, noting that once a veteran is inside the VA care program, screening programs are in place to identify those with problems, and special efforts are made to track those considered at high risk, such as monitoring whether they are keeping appointments.
Popularity: 32% [?]
Panel urges VA to plan now for vets care
Apr 1st
Excerpt: Based on a review of disability claims from past wars, the report says the number of disability claims from recent veterans should peak around 2040.
By Kimberly Hefling – The Associated Press–
WASHINGTON — Looking decades ahead, the Institute of Medicine is urging the Veterans Affairs Department to begin planning now for the long-term health care needs of the estimated 1.9 million veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Specifically, the institute says in a report released Wednesday, not enough is known about what works best in the long term to treat veterans with traumatic brain injuries, often caused by roadside bombs.
While a multitude of public and private programs is available to help the men and women who have served in the recent conflicts, there is little coordination and sparse information about which ones are effective, the report said.
A 16-member panel coordinated by the Institute of Medicine instigated the review of the readjustment needs of troops, veterans and their families at the request of Congress. The institute is part of the National Academies, an independent organization chartered by Congress to advise the government on scientific matters.
Dr. Victoria Cassano, the VA’s liaison to the institute, said many of the report’s recommendations are “right on.” Cassano said it covers important issues the VA is either already working on or will consider.
The report urged Congress to direct the VA to produce more detailed annual projections of the needs of veterans and their families, so more thorough planning can be done to prepare for an uptick in disability claims and health needs in the decades ahead as the veterans age.
Based on a review of disability claims from past wars, the report says the number of disability claims from recent veterans should peak around 2040.
“It’s going to get worse before it gets any better,” said Ryan Edwards, an economics professor from the City University of New York, who served on the panel. “We’re going to see a larger burden … and it will continue to expand.”
The report praised the VA’s work to establish rehabilitation services for those with traumatic brain injury, which is often called the signature wound of the Iraq war. But it said the VA should sponsor research into protocols for long-term care for those with traumatic brain injury because little research is available.
“It’s an evolving area, and it’s going to need to evolve more to keep up with the patient population,” said Dr. George Rutherford, the panel chairman, who is a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco.
Overall, the report said, the VA and Defense Department should better coordinate services available to veterans. It held up as a successful model Military OneSource, a one-stop online and telephone information source for military personnel and their families.
The study said the Defense Department needs to better address troops’ reluctance to report mental health problems and should review how it handles confidentiality when a service member seeks help. It also encouraged the Defense Department and VA to hire more mental health professionals.
It could be helpful for service members returning home from war if there’s an interim place they can go following time in combat to rest and prepare for the adjustment back to the U.S., the report said.
Navy Capt. Edward Simmer said the Defense Department is already looking for ways to address some of the problems discussed in the report. “The things we need to work on, we’ll definitely get started with,” Simmer said.
Simmer is the senior executive for psychological health at the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury in Rosslyn, Va.
Next month, the panel starts a second, two-year examination of veterans’ health issues.
Popularity: 28% [?]
VA doctors prohibited from prescribing medical pot
Mar 31st
By SUE MAJOR HOLMES–The Associated Press–
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When Paul Culkin came home to New Mexico after serving with an Army bomb squad in Iraq, he tried counseling and medications offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs to cope with his post traumatic stress disorder.
Nothing worked very well. Then he found a new alternative: marijuana.
New Mexico is the only state that explicitly allows people with PTSD to smoke pot under its medical marijuana law – an issue that is getting attention around the country at a time when traumatized vets are coming home from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in large numbers.
New Mexico’s medical marijuana law has created a conundrum for the Veterans Affairs, which does not allow its doctors to prescribe pot because the drug is illegal in the eyes of the federal government. So, patients like Culkin must seek out an endorsement from a private doctor.
PTSD accounts for more patients than any other of the state’s 16 eligible debilitating conditions approved for medical marijuana treatment.
Culkin wishes the VA could provide it.
“Oh my God, it would be so helpful,” said Culkin, 30, who heads the New Mexico Medical Marijuana Patients Group formed last December as a support and education group.
If the VA handled all needs – including medical cannabis – care for veterans would improve, he said, because the doctor would know everything about the patient.
“If these guys fought the hardest they could, why not give them the best medicine, or an alternative medicine you can?” Culkin said.
States where medical marijuana use has been approved have been trying to determine what ailments the drug will help. Those efforts have resulted in a mishmash of regulations.
For instance, a Colorado House committee in March rejected following New Mexico’s lead in specifically listing PTSD to qualify for medical marijuana. California doctors can recommend medical marijuana for a variety of conditions and “any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.”
The American Medical Association has called for controlled studies of marijuana for patients whose conditions it might help. The association also wants a review of marijuana’s status as a Schedule 1 drug so clinical research can move ahead.
The Department of Veterans Affairs says it is developing a national policy, and the head of Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access believes a VA policy allowing medical marijuana “is inevitable.”
“We’re all on the same side,” said Michael Krawitz of Virginia. “My goal is a good outcome for the veteran, and that’s their goal.”
“The irony in this … is it’s a common thing for veterans to tell me, ‘The VA is telling me if I just stay away from medical marijuana, we’ll give you all the pills you want, morphine, whatever,’” he said.
Krawitz, 47, was severely injured in a motorcycle accident while stationed in Guam with the Air Force about 20 years ago and eventually received a medical discharge.
He is an advocate for marijuana’s medicinal benefits.
“It makes it so you can put down a lot of the pain pills. It helps with nerve pain, that really bad spasming and twitching.”
He praises the care he’s gotten from the VA, but adds: “I feel sorry for the VA; they’re caught in the middle … They have a clear mandate to take care of veterans.”
Given their inability to get medical marijuana from the VA, New Mexico veterans are finding their own go-to physicians, including Dr. Eve Elting in the central part of the state.
“I have guys coming to see me from all over the state, five or six hours’ drive, just to be legal,” said Elting, of Truth or Consequences. “It’s bad enough they have something that makes life so challenging. On top of that they’re discriminated against, made to feel like they’re doing something wrong.”
Elting said veterans hear about her by word of mouth since she will see people who aren’t regular patients. About a quarter of those who come to her want medical marijuana for PTSD. One day she saw eight veterans – five for PTSD.
New Mexico doctors do not prescribe medical cannabis. Rather, they certify someone has one of the approved conditions and that standard treatment doesn’t work. Patients then apply to the state program. If an application is approved, the patient gets a registry ID card that allows possession of up to 6 ounces of medical marijuana.
A psychiatrist’s diagnosis must be included for PTSD. For chronic pain, X-rays or CT scans are required and both a primary doctor and a specialist have to sign off.
“Even though the VA has prohibited them from signing the documents, I don’t see why a physician treating the veteran would not be willing to sign a piece of paper attesting that the patient had that condition,” said Elting, who did her residency at a VA hospital and serves on New Mexico’s eight-member medical advisory board for the program.
Veterans armed with Elting’s signature would still have to find a private psychiatrist or other specialist to sign.
“Everyone’s happy to give them a million narcotics, anti-psychotics. It’s frustrating,” she said.
Popularity: 35% [?]
A GI-Bill reminder from VA
Mar 25th
Hello, 
Hope you’re having a great afternoon. I wanted to get in touch today to remind you of the benefits of The Post-9/11 GI Bill, and invite you to help spread the word to your readers.
As a military veteran, it’s imperative that you play a proactive role to ensure the educational benefits you, your friends or family have earned are in fact received. The Post-9/11 GI Bill offers terrific benefits, but they are not automatic. The actions taken today will simplify the process and help the VA expedite benefit payments.
I’m contacting you today on behalf of The United States Department of Veterans Affairs to stress the importance of completing all of the necessary steps to ensure the benefits deserved will be paid in a timely fashion! Here’s what needs to be done:
Check your eligibility online at www.gibill.va.gov Submit your application VA Form 22-1990 or 22-1990E.
After you have enrolled in school, check with your School Certifying Official (SCO) to confirm that your VA enrollment certification has been sent to the VA on your behalf. This form certifies your actual enrollment period and triggers your payment. *Here’s a little hint:
the school’s designated SCO will be found in the Financial Aid Department, Admissions and Records Department, or Registrar’s
Office.)
And last but not least, enjoy the education benefits you earned!
If you or a loved one is planning to use the Post-9/11 GI Bill to attend school anytime this year, action must be taken today. Please let me know if you would be interested in working together to ensure your readers are securing the benefits they are eligible for. For more information please visit: http://www.gibill.va.gov or text GIBill to 99702. And thank you for your service to our country.
All the very best,
Diana
Popularity: 33% [?]
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: 29% [?]
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: 13% [?]
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: 27% [?]
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: 15% [?]
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.
Read the rest of this entry »
Popularity: 11% [?]
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: 39% [?]
