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DOLE-SHALALA COMMISSION ISSUES REPORT - CALLS FOR

SWEEPING CHANGES IN MILITARY AND VA HEALTHCARE --

President Bush calls report "interesting suggestions"

and says NOT to expect action right away.

 

      Former Sen. Bob Dole          Former Sec. Donna Shalala

 

The Dole-Shalala Commission has issued their report.

It was given to the President this morning.  President Bush called it "interesting suggestions" and said NOT to expect action right away.  Then, why did he form the Commission?  This makes no sense.  The President had said he would accept and act on the Commission's recommendations.

(video here) and (video here) and (video here)

We have two items.

First is the press release from the Commission that explains their report.  The full report will be available to the public by the end of the month.

Second is an AP news story.  Note the part in the story where ABC reporter Bob Woodruff asks the President is he is doing enough for families...and the President declined to answer.

For more on the Dole-Shalala Commission, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch
.php?q=dole+shalala&op=and

Commission press release here... http://www.pr
newswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=1
04&STORY=/www/story/07-25-2007/
0004632548&EDATE=

Press release below:

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President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors Issues Six Groundbreaking Patient and Family Centered Recommendations to Serve, Support and Simplify Care

WASHINGTON, /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Calling its
recommendations a "bold blueprint for action" to serve, support and simplify the care for our injured service members, the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors today approved six recommendations that make sweeping changes in the delivery of health care and services.

The recommendations include the first major overhaul of
the disability system in more than 50 years; creation of recovery plans with recovery coordinators; a new e-Benefits website; and guaranteeing care for PTSD from the VA for injured service members from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The nine-member Commission called upon the White House and Congress to implement its recommendations as quickly as possible to ensure that those who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are able to successfully transition back to civilian life or active duty service.

"These are bold, innovative recommendations that are doable and can be acted upon quickly. Our motto is 'put patients and families first.' The system should work for the patient, instead of the patient working for the system," said Shalala.

"Our injured service members deserve a system that serves their
different needs, supports them and their families while they recover and simplifies the delivery of care and services," said Dole. "We will not let these recommendations sit on a shelf. They need to be acted upon now to improve the quality of lives for our brave men and women and their families."

The Commission report: Serve, Support, Simplify presents six
recommendations with specific action steps for the  Administration and Congress:

 

1. Immediately Create Comprehensive Recovery Plans to Provide the Right Care and Support at the Right Time in the Right Place

Recommendation: Create a patient-centered Recovery Plan for every seriously injured service member that provides the right care and support at the right time in the right place. A corps of well-trained, highly-skilled Recovery Coordinators must be swiftly developed to ensure prompt development and execution of the Recovery Plan.

Goals: Ensure an efficient, effective and smooth rehabilitation and transition back to military duty or civilian life; establish a single point of contact for patients and families; and eliminate delays and gaps in treatment and services. Seriously injured service members -- approximately 3,100 in the current conflicts -- require assistance in navigating complex medical systems in general. The Commission's research, including site visits and the work of previous studies, indicate that individuals both need and benefit from this support, and that too often, it is not available.

 

2. Completely Restructure the Disability Determination and Compensation Systems

Recommendation: DoD maintains authority to determine fitness to serve. For those found not fit for duty, DOD provides a payment for time served. VA then establishes the disability rating, compensation and benefits.

Goals: Update and simplify the disability determination and
compensation system; eliminate parallel activities; reduce inequities; and provide a solid base for the return of injured veterans to productive life. According to initial findings of a survey conducted by the Commission among wounded and evacuated members, the current disability rating system in both DoD and VA is poorly understood and a source of dissatisfaction. Just over 40% fully understood the disability evaluation process. Virtually all recent evidence has pointed to the need for major reform.

 

3. Aggressively Prevent and Treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury

Recommendation: VA should provide care for any veteran of the
Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts who has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). DoD and VA must rapidly improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of both PTSD and traumatic brain injury (TBI). At the same time, both Departments must work aggressively to reduce the stigma of PTSD.

Goals: Improve care of two common conditions of the current conflicts and reduce the stigma of PTSD; mentally and physically fit service members will strengthen our military into the future.
DoD and VA have stepped up screening for these conditions with almost three-quarters of survey respondents reporting being screened for PTSD and TBI, and over 40% of them reporting symptoms of PTSD or other mental health problems

 

4. Significantly Strengthen Support for Families

Recommendation: Strengthen family support programs including expanding DoD respite care and extending the Family and Medical Leave Act for up to six months for spouse and parents of seriously injured.

Goals: Strengthen family support systems and improve the quality of life for families. Approximately two-thirds of injured service members reported that their family members or close friends stayed with them for an extended time while they were hospitalized; one in five gave up a job to do so.

 

5. Rapidly Transfer Patient Information Between DoD and VA

Recommendation: DoD and VA must move quickly to get clinical and benefit data to users. In addition, DoD and VA should jointly develop an interactive 'My eBenefits' website that provides a single information source for service members.

Goals: Support a patient-centered system of care and efficient
practices. Most of the time, the role of information technology is invisible to the service member. They often notice when information is not available. A common complaint is lost paperwork. For example, 40% reported having to resubmit paperwork during the disability evaluation process.

 

6. Strongly Support Walter Reed By Recruiting and Retaining First Rate Professionals Through 2011

Recommendation: Until the day it closes, Walter Reed must have the authority and responsibility to recruit and retain first rate professionals to deliver first rate care. Walter Reed Army Medical Center has a distinguished history and, with one in five injured service members going directly to Walter Reed, continues to play a unique and vital role in providing care for America's military.

Goals: Assure that this major military medical center has professional and administrative staff necessary for state-of-the art medical care and scientific research through 2011.

 

"Our recommendations do much more than place band-aids on problems," added Shalala. "Together, they simplify the pathway to recovery and ensure that injured service members achieve their maximum potential."

Of the more than 1.5 million service members deployed in 2.5 million deployments,

-- 37,851 had illnesses or injuries serious enough that they were air evacuated from the field
-- 23,270 have been treated and returned to their units within 72 hours
-- 2,726 have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury
-- 644 have had amputations
-- 598 have had serious burns
-- 94 have had spinal cord injuries
-- 48 have sought vision services from the VA

"We heard time and time again about the overall high quality of care received," added Dole. "In the Vietnam era, five out of every eight seriously injured service members survived. Today, seven out of eight survive, many with injuries that would have been fatal in past wars."

The Commission's charge was to focus specifically on service members from the current conflicts. However, the Commissioners believe these recommendations will also benefit past and future generations of veterans.

Serve, Support, Simplify is rooted in the work done by the Commission since it was created by Presidential order March 8th and builds on the work of other Task Forces and Commissions that have been examining similar issues.

The Commission heard testimony at seven public meetings and conducted 23 site visits to military bases, VA hospitals and treatment centers and public sector facilities across the country. On April 14th, the Commission launched an interactive website which included a "Share Your Story" feature for service members and their families.

To reach a new generation of service members, the Commission is distributing its recommendations through "You Tube". The final Commission report, including reports from the Commission
subcommittees and survey findings, will be made available to the public by July 31, 2007. A complete list of Commission members can be found in the press kit or online at http://www.pccww.gov.

About the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors:

The nine-member Commission was established by the President to "conduct a comprehensive review of the care America is providing our wounded servicemen and women returning from the battlefield."

* The Commission conducted its own nationwide survey of more than 1700 service men and women from June 7 to June 19, 2007. Participants were military members and veterans who had undergone medical treatment for wounds or injuries sustained in Iraq and Afghanistan that led to evacuation to the United States.

Contact: Nicholas J. Graham
571/451-6165 (cell)
Nicholas.graham@wso.whs.mil

Joann Donnellan
571/438-3939 (cell)
Joann.donnellan@wso.whs.mil

Main: 703/588-0440


SOURCE President's Commission on Care for America's Returning
Wounded

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AP news story here... http://www.forbes.
com/feeds/ap/2007/07/25/ap3950645.html

Story below:

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By HOPE YEN

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Wednesday his hand-picked investigative panel has interesting suggestions on improving health care for those wounded in battle, but the White House said not to expect action right away.

Just after the Senate on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue passed sweeping legislation to expand brain screenings, reduce red tape and boost military pay, Bush thanked former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, and other panel members as they presented their draft recommendations to him in the Oval Office.

The panel was to hold a hearing later and approve the final report later in the day.

"We owe our wounded soldiers the very best care, and the very best benefits, and the very easiest to understand system," Bush said. "And so they took a very interesting approach. They took the perspective from the patient, as the patient had to work his way through the hospitals and bureaucracies. And they've come up with some very interesting and important suggestions."

Bush created the panel March 6 to investigate problems in the treatment of wounded veterans following disclosures of roach-infested conditions and shoddy outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, one of the nation's premier facilities for treating those wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Veterans advocates say the Pentagon and VA had years of warnings about growing problems amid a burgeoning war, but the final report will not seek to assign blame.

The White House event followed the Senate's vote by unanimous consent on legislation that seeks to end inconsistencies in disability pay by providing for a special review of cases in which service members received low ratings of their level of disability. The aim is to determine if they were shortchanged.

The bill also would boost severance pay and provide $50 million for improved diagnosis of veterans with traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder. The House was considering similar measures.

"Today, the Senate took action to provide real solutions," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "From inexcusably long waits for basic care and claims, to squalid living conditions, to daunting mazes of paperwork, our heroes deserve better than what they have received from this administration. As the president considers the results of a study he commissioned nearly five months ago to examine the extent of problems, we are acting to fix them."

Bush also praised Bob Woodruff of ABC News, who was nearly killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq last year. "We're glad you're with us, Bob," Bush said. "Congratulations on the will to recover." When Woodruff asked Bush whether the government was moving fast enough to help families, the president declined to answer.

White House press secretary Tony Snow said that Bush would not be acting immediately on any of the recommendations. Rather, he said that the panel's ideas would likely be integrated with other ongoing efforts to improve health care and overall treatment of returning soldiers.

In interviews in advance of Wednesday's report presentation, commissioners said the study was focused on a handful of pragmatic proposals, such as boosting benefits for family members so they have more flexibility to travel or take time off work to care for injured loved ones.

Simplifying the unwieldy disability ratings system to eliminate duplicative requirements by the VA and Pentagon is also a goal, as is urging a change in the government formula for awarding disability pay to motivate recovering veterans to find jobs.

"We're not seeing problems with the actual medical care provided," said commissioner Gail Wilensky, an economist and senior fellow at Project HOPE, an international health education foundation. "The problems we are seeing are in administrative handoffs that occur as somebody comes back to the United States."

The commission is expected to offer a more limited response to one of the biggest problems: providing health care that allows injured troops to move from facility to facility without lost paperwork and delays, regardless of whether they are using a Pentagon or VA-run facility.

Presidential panels have long urged the Pentagon and VA to develop a system for sharing inpatient records electronically, but the two agencies still remain months if not years away.

As a result, the commission was seeking short-term fixes that would make records available right away to medical facilities for Iraq war veterans first, possibly over the Internet, commission members said.

"We're faced with a unique challenge for a group of individuals," said Dr. C. Martin Harris (nyse: HRS - news - people ), a member of the commission and the chief information officer at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, citing the expected influx of returning Iraq war veterans. "If we can focus on that idea and prioritize properly, we can make changes relatively quickly."

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Larry Scott  --