WASHINGTON – A presidential commission on Wednesday urged broad changes to veterans’ care that would boost benefits for family members helping the wounded, establish an easy-to-use Web site for medical records and overhaul the way disability pay is awarded.
The nine-member panel, led by former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and Donna Shalala, health and human services secretary during the Clinton administration, also recommended stronger partnerships between the Pentagon and the private sector to boost treatment for traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
A 29-page report was presented to President Bush in the Oval Office, just after the Senate addressed some of the issues Wednesday morning by passing sweeping legislation to expand brain screenings, reduce red tape and boost military pay.
“Gone are the countless calls for appointments,” said Shalala, who said the proposals would provide more customized, personalized care to injured Iraq war veterans. “Gone are the days of telling the same thing to doctors over and over again.”
Among the recommendations was an indirect rebuke of the VA – a call for Congress to “enable all veterans who have been deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq who need post-traumatic stress disorder care to receive it from the VA.”
Among the proposals:
* Boost staff and money for Walter Reed Army Medical Center until it closes in the coming years. Also urges Pentagon to work with the VA to create “integrated care teams” of doctors and nurses to see injured troops through their recovery.
* Restructure the disability pay systems to give the VA more responsibility for awarding benefits.
* Create a “My eBenefits” Web site, developed jointly by the VA and Pentagon, that would let service members and doctors access private medical information as the injured move from facility to facility to receive treatment.
* Provide better family support; one-third of injured Iraq war veterans reported that a family member or close friend had to relocate to care for them. The recommendation calls for training and counseling for families of service members who require long-term care and improved family leave and insurance benefits for family members.
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