In a report released in September, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) credited the Department of Defense (DOD) with improving practices to mitigate the risks of exposure to burn pits, but stated that the DOD still needs to ensure that “research specifically examines the relationship between direct burn pit exposure and long-term health issues.”

In the report, the GAO also states that there has not been enough progress over the issue of burn-pit exposure since it was discovered more study was needed five years ago.

The report warns that “The current lack of data on emissions specific to burn pits and related individual exposures limits efforts to characterize potential long-term health impacts of service members and other base personal.”

Right now, the VA’s official position is the research thus far has not established evidence of long-term health problems from exposure to these pits. Since the Department of Defense has not undertaken the necessary research and the Government Accountability Office acknowledges the problem, the VA should give the benefit of the doubt to the veteran. Unfortunately, the extent of the damages to our Veterans may not be confirmed for decades when delayed war casualties slowly emerge.

“The reality is there is no system that can support both DOD and the VA at the same time,” said LaVerne Council, the VA’s assistant secretary for information and technology. She spoke during a Senate subcommittee hearing to review the VA’s EHR system, VistA, or Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture.

The VA is on schedule to finish the next stage of VistA updates, said Council. She told the committee that the agency hopes the improvements will lead to more efficiency and interoperability by 2018. However, Government Accountability Office (GAO) official Valerie Melvin claimed that delays in modernizing VistA has caused the program to become outdated. As a result, the system faces technical difficulties.

Melvin contended that the VA and DOD interoperability initiative has been hindered by the lack of “outcome-oriented goals and metrics to clearly define what they aim to achieve” through interoperability. “We have not seen clear planning across VA and DOD.” Melvin testified that a modernized VA EHR system is still years away.

A 2015 GAO report recommended the two government agencies work together to create a strong healthcare network for both service members and veterans. However, the attempt was unsuccessful due to their different IT infrastructures. Council said the VA may either “continue with VistA, shift to a commercial EHR platform as DOD is doing, or some combination of both.”

DOD should know that ALS afflicts US Military Veterans at twice the rate of the civilian population.  The data which VA, ALS, Harvard University and many medical schools have reviewed supports this conclusion.  The reason for the startling medical fact is unknown at this time.

In fact, no one knows why U.S. military veterans are twice as likely to develop ALS than the general population, or why those who deployed during the Gulf War in 1990-91 may be twice as likely to get the disease as other troops. Although it’s still a rare illness, affecting about 30,000 people across the country, it is so devastating to its victims and their families that the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs have made a mission out of trying to reduce their suffering.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/03/08/3682151/more-vets-suffer-from-als-but.html#storylink=cpy

VA will treat ALS as a presumptive disease for veterans disability compensation purposes.  So after viewing the 100^th bucket of cold water being dumped on friends, relatives and celebrities, the challenge is getting a little tedious.   However, it is raising money for necessary medical research.  I just wish that DOD & VA would use this opportunity to let veterans and the general population know that this is a situation that is inflicting our veterans at twice the normal rate.  Did you know that?  Think about that or “paste” the above comment into your Facebook page next time a friend sends you one of those videos.

http://www.armytimes.com/article/20140821/NEWS05/308210042

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans attorney, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

We deal with VA every day and are at the outer rings of DOD’s activities.  Our clients are guys that have been around the block before and know a thing or two about DOD and VA.  So I am never too surprised by the stories we are told about delay and incompetency.  However, a new report out on DOD tells the story of how DFAS simply makes up numbers, plug numbers, to make its books balance in reports to Treasury.  DFAS, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, is the Pentagon’s main accounting agency.  We all rely on the DFAS numbers like they are gospel.    VA will stick to a DFAS report of pay or benefits as evidence in VA determinations – like hazardous duty pay, flight status, etc.  As reported “At the DFAS offices that handle accounting for the Army, Navy, Air Force and other defense agencies, fudging the accounts with false entries is standard operating procedure, Reuters has found. And plugging isn’t confined to DFAS (pronounced DEE-fass). Former military service officials say record-keeping at the operational level throughout the services is rife with made-up numbers to cover lost or missing information.”

I suspect that if Reuters was doing a similar story on VA it may find the same mentality of “plugging the numbers to get the report out the door.”  Those inaccuracies end up impacting the lives of real people.  Real veterans are not getting benefits or care because of the inability to account for information and resources.  I wish it was not so but this report seems to be well done and convincing.  What are your thoughts or experiences?

http://www.euronews.com/newswires/2215678-special-report-the-pentagons-doctored-ledgers-conceal-epic-waste

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans attorney, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

Jim Fausone
Veterans Disability Lawyer

So I am no fashion expert.  I suspect most guys just toss on what is in the closet and hope it does not clash too badly.  Uniforms are supposed to be functional, not clash with the environment, create esprit de corps and be distinguishable.  But when I read about the government’s continuing attempt to reinvent the military uniform it drives me batty.  Eight years ago DOD spent $5 billion on a heavily-criticized universal camouflage pattern (UCP).  Nobody liked it and the pattern did not work in Afghanistan.  Someone said it was only camouflage if you were hiding in a gravel parking lot.   Now the Army is back at the drawing board looking for a new design that’s estimated to cost another $4 billion.

So here is my comparison.  A veteran with a 50% disability receives about $12,000 a year, which is not much to live on and support your wife and child.  We are going to blow $9 billion on fashion choices in a decade.  That would cover the annual cost for 750,000 veterans to receive benefits.  Sometimes I think the government’s priorities are screwed up.  Are you a fan of the UCP or do you want it gone no matter what the price?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-hero-project/articles/2013/10/14/the-army-s-5-billion-new-uniform-already-being-replaced.html

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans attorney, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

DOD is going to look to a commercial solution to Electronic Health Records (HER).  The need to coordinate with VA still exists.  Will the commercial solution be able to communicate seamlessly with VA’s system. We are told it will but the DOD system may cost $16 billion. We are not left with a great deal of confidence in the new direction.  The problem of lack of coordinated EHR may continue for years.

http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20130612/IT03/306120010/DoD-VA-spent-1B-trying-build-joint-health-records-system

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact an attorney about your PTSD, TBI, Mental Health, Sexual Assault, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, TDIU, Medical Malpractice, or Aid and Attendance claim, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

If you are a veteran navigating the VA disability process, you are amazed at the numerous forms that must be completed.  If you are like many vets, the DOD experience with forms did not train you for the VA collection of forms, some of which seem designed to confuse.  A recent article discussed the federal government’s desire to create a form for every event. “The American Action Forum found that paperwork needed for health benefits claims — in part the result of 31.2 million Veterans Affairs claims each year — takes federal employees roughly 43.3 million hours to process.”

“Other findings in the study:

•    A disabled veteran seeking health and educational benefits could encounter up to 49 different forms, more than four hours of paperwork, and an aggregate cost of $125, assuming $31 per hour of compliance time.

•    One collection, “Income-Net Worth and Employment Statement,” contains 40 questions, takes one hour to complete, and VA receives more than 104,000 responses every year.”

What do you think is the worst form in the VA universe of forms?

http://www.stripes.com/news/new-study-shows-complications-in-va-claims-process-1.228830

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans lawyer, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800