Pilot program cuts evaluation time, speeds benefits

Defense Department and Department of Veterans Affairs officials have begun a joint program that could effectively dismantle one of the most confusing and frustrating obstacles in wounded warriors' recovery process.

Nine months after Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said wounded warriors should not return home to battle the bureaucracies of a broken health care system, a year-long test of a new disability evaluation system started last week.

The pilot program began at three major medical hospitals treating wounded servicemembers in the National Capital Region. Walter
Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.; the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.; and Malcolm Grow Medical Center on Andrews Air Force Base, Md., are taking part in the program.

DoD and VA officials said that partnership is key to the eliminating duplicate processes between the two departments' evaluation systems.

In the past, each service had its own disability evaluation and rating system and VA had its own. Wounded servicemembers went through the service board process of receiving a physical examination, and then were determined to be fit or unfit to continue service.

If determined unfit, the servicemember received a rating, which determined if the servicemember was medically retired or separated with severance pay. Once discharged, the servicemember entered the VA system and repeated the process. Many times the servicemember received a higher disability rating and, subsequently, a higher level of benefits.

Now, DoD has agreed that VA will conduct a the initial physical examination and, if the servicemember is determined unfit, will assign the disability rating that will be used to determine type of discharge and subsequent VA benefits. The servicemember still has an appeal process if they disagree with the rating.

Also, because VA assigns the rating initially, when the servicemember is discharged, they can begin receiving benefits within a few weeks, as opposed to six months or a year later with the previous system.

With the physical process streamlined and a single rating system in place, the new system promises to cut in half a process that has taken up to two years, and to offer a seamless transition in care and benefits from active-duty to veteran status, officials said.
The two agencies have also committed to developing a joint, inpatient medical record system. The agencies went as far as swapping their heads of information technology for six months to help break down the barriers of data exchange between the two, officials said.