This sexual assault trauma, commonly known as Military Sexual Trauma (MST), is specifically defined as: psychological trauma, which in the judgment of a VA mental health professional, resulted from a physical assault of a sexual nature, battery of a sexual nature, or sexual harassment which occurred while the Veteran was serving on active duty or active duty for training.

This expansion, which also pertains to Reservists and National Guard members participating in weekend drill, gives the authority to offer veterans the appropriate care and services needed to treat conditions resulting from MST that occurred during a period of inactive duty training.

The expansion is rather timely, especially in light of recent reports of the continued increase in military sexual assault cases, which we at LHFV have discussed frequently on our blog.

Every VA health care facility will have a MST Coordinator who serves as the point person for MST cases. And every VA medical center and community based outpatient clinic offers some MST-related outpatient counseling.

Currently, veterans can receive health care for mental and physical conditions related to MST free of charge. Veterans do not need to have a service-connected disability or seek disability compensation to be eligible for MST-related care.

And, as many who experience sexual harassment or assault have not reported the incidents in the past, it is important to note that veterans do not need to have reported such incidents to the Department of Defense or have documentation or records to support their claims of having experienced such trauma. The responsible VA mental health provider makes a clinical determination as to whether a veteran’s condition is MST-related.

Finally, veterans do not need to enroll in the VA’s health care system to qualify for MST-related treatment, as it is independent of VA’s general treatment authority.

Veterans can learn more about VA’s MST-related services online at:  www.mentalhealth.va.gov/msthome.asp

And you can see video clips with the recovery stories of veterans who have experienced MST at, and learn more at: http://maketheconnection.net/conditions/military-sexual-trauma.

If you have questions about service connected MST and disability compensation, contact us at Legal Help for Veterans.

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 Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Mental Health, Sexual Assault, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability, Medical Malpractice, or Aid and Attendance claim, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

The cornerstone of the act is the requirement that VA facilities provide authorization for veterans to seek private medical treatment if a wait time is longer than 30 days or if they live more than 40 miles from a VA facility.

According to Army Times, this provision is especially important because even as recently as July 2014, more than 30,000 veterans nationwide still faced wait times of more than three months.

Nonetheless, experts say that this change will not happen overnight. Ian de Planque, deputy director for the American Legion, told Army Times that he expects full implementation to take up to a year.

In the meantime, VA schedulers are contacting some waitlisted veterans directly to arrange for private medical care. The VA reports that it has contacted more than 260,000 waitlisted veterans nationwide to arrange timely private care.

The act includes a broad array of other requirements. Some relate directly to care — for example, the requirement that treatment for military sexual trauma be improved. The act also extends the existence of a comprehensive treatment program for veterans with mild to severe traumatic brain injury.

In addition, the act provides for a stronger school loan repayment program for medical professionals joining the VA. VA officials have pointed to a lack of medical staff as a leading reason for the wait times and ensuing scandal at the VA.

The act also provides the Secretary of Veterans Affairs much broader authority to fire executives who perform poorly.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald has set an initial 90-day benchmark to evaluate progress on the implementation of the act.

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 Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Mental Health, Sexual Assault, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability, Medical Malpractice, or Aid and Attendance claim, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

The key points in the new package include a $15 billion budget boost to the VA, a “Veterans Choice Card,” and, potentially, leases on 27 new medical centers in fifteen states and Puerto Rico (another $1.27 billion).

The centerpiece of the “Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act” (HR 3230) is a $10 billion Veterans Choice Fund. Over the next three years, VA is to use the fund to buy care from non-VA care providers for veterans if they face long waits longer than 30 days for VA care or if they reside more than 40 miles from a VA medical center.

The goal: to eliminate the egregiously long VA patient wait list, which some VA health administrators and staffed conspired to hide in recent years.

Per the request of some VA leaders and veteran service organizations, HR 3230 also authorizes $5 billion for VA to expand its own capacity to deliver care, by hiring more medical and support staff and also building and leasing more space. This $5 billion will be paid for by cuts elsewhere, including cuts to executive bonuses and deferring planned rate cute for certain VA home loans.

However, the “Veterans Choice Card,” which the legislation mandates, is not the golden ticket that it sounds like for veterans seeking outside care. Veterans not already enrolled in VA health care won’t gain accelerated access to outside care as promised by the legislation, unless they serve in areas of combat operations within five years of enrollment.

The choice card will mostly act as an informational insurance card presented to non-VA health care providers to identify the veteran and to verify eligibility for care that, sometime earlier, were arranged through and approved by a VA coordinator.

Also, not all eligible veterans will get to choose their outside provider, and not every outside provider will opt to treat veterans through the VA coordinated care program – even if the vets are existing patients. The issues for outside physicians include the level and timeliness of VA payments. The new legislation does include language seeking to improve VA payment procedures so that payments are timelier.

VA has existing contracts with individual physicians and with pools of private sector providers, and additional similar arrangements are expected. But, VA cannot pay rates higher than Medicare allows, with exceptions possible if care is delivered in rural areas.

Many question marks remain with this legislation and how it might be implemented. It certainly does not represent a cure-all for the VA’s problems, however it does include some near-term action. You can read more on this story in Stars & Stripes: http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/how-choice-card-and-15b-will-help-veterans-get-care-1.296110

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