Returning troops face obstacles to care

NF Reporter · 04-14-2007, 06:29 PM

AP - Injured soldiers returning home for medical treatment face an unacceptable maze of paperwork and bureaucracy, leaders of a presidential commission on veterans' health care said Saturday.

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waltky · 10-28-2007, 06:46 PM

Dems holdin' things up...

Democrats Playing Politics With Veterans Funding Bill?
October 23, 2007 - Congressional Democrats are stalling a veterans funding bill, and Republicans want the nation to know about it, as Veterans Day draws near.

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The House overwhelmingly (409-2) passed the 2008 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, which funds veterans' health care and housing initiatives, on June 15, 2007. The Senate then passed its own version of the bill and named negotiators to a House-Senate conference committee on September 6. But House Democrats have not yet appointed their conferees, despite Republican appeals to get going.

House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) said the bill is "among the most important pieces of legislation we consider all year -- and usually, among the least partisan." But apparently not this year. Instead of providing "vital resources" to American veterans, Democrats are using the veterans' funding bill as a "political tool" for some "unintelligible political end," Blunt said in a news release on Monday.

House Republican Leader John Boehner pointed to news reports saying that Democrats plan to use the veterans funding bill as a vehicle for pork barrel spending. "Health care, housing, and other benefits for our veterans and troops should never fall victim to crass partisan politics and should never be used as a way to disguise billions in wasteful pork," Boehner said on Monday.

Boehner said Congress should send the veterans funding bill to President Bush immediately. "Every day that the Majority leadership blocks our work on this bill is another day that they place a higher priority on politics than on benefits for our troops and veterans. "Our veterans and troops have risked their lives to defend our freedom and ensure our security. To have them caught in the middle of Washington political gamesmanship underscores just how misplaced the priorities of this congressional majority really are," Boehner said.

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waltky · 03-18-2008, 09:24 PM

Military Delayed Brain Injury Scans...

Col.: DOD Delayed Brain Injury Scans
March 18, 2008 - Pentagon Hoped to Avoid Another 'Gulf War Sydrome' Phenomenon, Says Air Force Colonel

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For more than two years, the Pentagon delayed screening troops returning from Iraq for mild brain injuries because officials feared veterans would blame vague ailments on the little-understood wound caused by exposure to bomb blasts, says the military's director of medical assessments. Air Force Col. Kenneth Cox said in an interview that the Pentagon wanted to avoid another controversy such as the so-called Gulf War syndrome. About 10,000 veterans blamed medical conditions from cancer to eczema on their service. The Pentagon did not acknowledge the syndrome until Congress created a committee to study it in 1998.

For troops who think they may have a condition not designated as war-related, Cox said, often "they're reacting to rumors, things that they've read about or heard about on the Internet or (from) their friends." That uncertainty, Cox said, means "some individuals will seek a diagnosis from provider to provider to provider." It also makes treating veterans "much more difficult and much more costly," he said. Asked whether mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) could turn into another Gulf War syndrome, Cox said, "It could."

"That's baloney," says Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., founder of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force. "There was no need to delay this." In a January 2006 report, scientists at the federal Defense and Veteran Brain Injury Center urged that troops be screened for TBI "immediately." The Pentagon will soon require that troops be checked as they come home, according to Cox. Cox says research shows screening is the most appropriate step. An Army mental health report last month indicated that 11 percent of 2,195 soldiers surveyed in Iraq and Afghanistan show signs of mild brain injury, but fewer than half were identified and evaluated in the field.

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waltky · 09-23-2008, 10:55 PM

VA Quadruples Payment to Vets With Brain Injuries...

VA Ups Payment to Vets With Brain Injuries
WASHINGTON September 23, 2008 - Some Veterans With Mild Brain Injuries Will Get 4 Times Disability Payments

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The government is more than quadrupling monthly payments to some veterans suffering brain injuries, as the number of such war wounds mounts from the roadside bombings of Iraq and Afghanistan. The new compensation is based on the assessment that even some troops who have the mildest form of traumatic brain injury could end up with chronic headaches, memory loss, anxiety or other symptoms that will hurt their chances of getting a job or job advancement — thus reducing their lifetime earnings by 40 percent.

In a regulation announced Tuesday by the Department of Veterans Affairs, officials changed the way they evaluate the injuries. They now judge a person to be 40 percent disabled in such cases rather than 10 percent. The old lower rating was set by a 1961 regulation. The rating change means that an unmarried veteran, who now receives $117 monthly in compensation, will receive $512. Extra money also will be calculated for troops with spouses and children.

Mild traumatic brain injury is basically a form of concussion that results from severe shaking of the brain after a blast. It can cause blurred vision, insomnia, irritability and other problems. The VA change represents the "best judgment of medical experts about what the impact" of such injuries is and how best to evaluate veterans who come to the VA for help, said Tom Pamperin, a deputy director for the department's compensation and pension service. The change goes into effect in 30 days and those receiving compensation under the old system can have their cases reviewed.

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waltky · 10-22-2008, 01:33 AM

Bailout the troops too...

‘Invisible’ War Wounds, Mental Health, Merit More Attention, Says Defense Secretary
Wednesday, October 22, 2008 - Technological advances in military hardware and medicine have made it possible for U.S. soldiers to survive explosions that would have been fatal in previous conflicts, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during a “Wounded Warrior Summit” held Monday at the Pentagon.

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But “invisible wounds” -- the war wounds that sometimes affect soldiers’ mental health -- are an area that need more medical and policy attention, said Gates, who added that such wounds are occurring with more frequency and intensity -- or perhaps being better diagnosed today than in past conflicts. At the summit, U.S. soldiers, family members, and surviving family members of those who died in Iraq and Afghanistan were invited to offer their thoughts on the quality of care they have received from government agencies.

Gates acknowledged that there had been bureaucratic failures in recent years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which undercut the quality of care for some wounded soldiers. But he called attention to new initiatives in place to improve coordination between the agencies that work to help the wounded vets at that hospital.

He specifically cited the disability evaluation system, which was, in reality, seriously hampered by bureaucracy. The previous system, for instance, used two separate ratings from the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs in evaluating soldiers’ disability. The new system in place relies on one disability rating, said Gates. Pilot testing on this new approach reveals a “tighter handshake” between the Defense Department and Veterans Affairs, which could cut in half the amount of time required to transition a veteran to full compensation, Gates said.

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waltky · 11-03-2008, 12:53 AM

New strategy for caring for war wounded...

Flood of wounded GIs swamps care units
3 Nov.`08 FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – In a rush to correct reports of substandard care for wounded soldiers, the Army flung open the doors of new specialized treatment centers so wide that up to half the soldiers currently enrolled do not have injuries serious enough to justify being there, The Associated Press has learned.

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Army leaders are putting in place stricter screening procedures to stem the flood of patients overwhelming the units — a move that eventually will target some for closure. According to interviews and data provided to the AP, the number of patients admitted to the 36 Warrior Transition Units and nine other community-based units jumped from about 5,000 in June 2007, when they began, to a peak of nearly 12,500 in June 2008. The units provide coordinated medical and mental health care, track soldiers' recovery and provide broader legal, financial and other family counseling. They serve Army active duty and reserve soldiers. Just 12 percent of the soldiers in the units had battlefield injuries while thousands of others had minor problems that did not require the complex new network of case managers, nurses and doctors, according to Brig. Gen. Gary H. Cheek, the director of the Army's warrior care office.

The overcrowding was a "self-inflicted wound," said Cheek, who also is an assistant surgeon general. "We're dedicating this kind of oversight and management where, truthfully, only half of those soldiers really needed this." Cheek said it is difficult to tell how many patients eventually will be in the units. But he said soldiers currently admitted will not be tossed out if they do not meet the new standards. Instead, the tighter screening will weed out the population over time. "We're trying change it back," to serve patients who have more serious or multiple injuries that require about six months or more of coordinated treatment, he said. By restricting use of the coordinated care units to soldiers with more complex, long-term ailments, the Army hopes in the long run to close or consolidate as many as 10 of the transition units, Cheek said during an interview in his Virginia office near the Pentagon.

In the past, a soldier with a torn knee ligament would have surgery and then go on light duty, such as answering phones, while getting physical therapy. But last October, the Army began allowing soldiers with less serious injuries such as that bad knee to go to the warrior units. The expansion came in the wake of reports about poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., including shoddy housing and bureaucratic delays for outpatients there. Brigade commanders began shipping to the transition centers anyone in their unit who could not deploy because of an injury or illness. That burdened the system with soldiers who really did not need case managers to set up their appointments, nurses to check their medications and other specialists to provide counseling for issues such as stress disorders. The Army's goal now, as spelled out in a recent briefing given to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, is to screen out those who do not need the expanded care program, shifting them to regular medical facilities at their military base or near their homes.

Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and chairman of VoteVets.org, said the Pentagon is making a fair argument. He acknowledged that some soldiers with less serious injuries might not need the units' services. But he said commanders need to be able to move their soldiers who cannot deploy due to an injury to the units because that is the only way they can get a replacement before going to war. Otherwise, the brigade goes to battle without the forces needed. "The larger concern here is that the problem that is driving this is the manpower problem," said Soltz. "The Army is overextended. We don't have enough guys." It is vital, he said, that the medical system care for all the solders who need help and that any changes should not threaten that care.

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