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DoD, VA commit to expediting, improving care for veterans
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AP/Dima Gavrysh
Speaking at an unprecedented military mental health summit on Monday, Oct. 26, U.S. Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates decried the paperwork currently needed for an injured or traumatized veteran to receive needed care as "frustrating, adversarial and unnecessarily complex."
Gates highlighted the need to ease access to health care for retired or discharged military members who have received physical wounds or developed mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder. He acknowledged a large backlog in patient requests and cited an estimate that as many as 1 in 20 men and women returning from active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan suffer from PTSD.
Gates also said traumatic brain injuries among recent combat veterans are "widespread, entrenched and insidious," the Associated Press reported.
Joining Gates at the podium to open the first-ever joint DoD/VA Mental Health Summit, U.S. Department of Veterans Affair Secretary Eric Shinseki also stressed that warriors suffer emotional injuries as much as they do physical ones."
Since taking over as head of the VA last January. Shinseki has prioritized veterans health. He, Gates and President Barack Obama announced in April the launch of a system to keep and transfer health records between DoD and the Veterans Health Administration so individuals transitioning from active duty would not experience unnecessary delays when enrolling for veterans benefits. Shinseki also recently expanded the criteria for collecting Agent Orange disability benefits. Perhaps most significantly, Shinseki last week secured legally binding promises from the White House and Congress to inform the VA as long a full year in advance what the agency's budget will be moving forward. This "advance budgeting" will make long-term planning and resource allocation much simpler.
Shinseki does acknowledge, however, that his agency, and especially its health components, need further improvement. In a "State of the VA" presentation to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs on Oct. 14, Shinseki told the representatives that the VHA continued to struggle with ensuring access and delivering timely care. Citing an example of this, he said, "We must work short-term and long-term strategies to reduce the backlog of disability claims, even as they increase in number and complexity. In July, we closed out a VA-record 92,000 claims in a single month--and received another 91,200 new ones."
Related articles:
- Veterans Health Administration: Mental Care Needs Improvement
- Suicide Among Military Members Study Launched by NIH
- Mental Health Spending Increasing Rapidly
- Webb Calls for VA Examination of Services at Hampton Veteran Medical Center, Citing Documented Deficiencies and Complaints (Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., press release, Oct. 21)
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