By Kelly Kennedy
Representatives from the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs tried to show what they're doing right to make life easier for vets, but lawmakers honed in on what they're doing wrong: Why is it taking years to gather VA and Defense Department records in one place after a promise that it would only take until 2005? Why is the VA still coming up short on services it offers - even as it ended 2006 with an extra $100 million? And why is it taking months for veterans to get critical care?
The Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs met Tuesday to discuss the seamless transition of active-duty service members to the VA health care system. And though Deputy VA Secretary Gordon Mansfield and Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness David S.C. Chu offered some new ideas - including an announcement this afternoon that the Defense Department and VA will move medical records to one system, and another that the Pentagon has a self-assessment for post-traumatic stress disorder on its Web site for service members who feel they might have mental health issues - the committee called for better planning, money to be spent getting veterans to mental health professionals, and for Chu and Mansfield to demand more money from President Bush to flesh out their budgets.
Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, the committee chairman, began by asking why medical records had not already been consolidated. As service members leave the military, they go through an exit medical exam. Then, as they apply for VA benefits, they go through a VA medical exam. Those records are accessible only in hard-copy format between the two entities.
"Now we're hearing that it will be 2012 before electronic medical records can be shared," Akaka said. "In 2003, you believed it could be in place by 2005. Why is this taking so long?"
Mansfield said the VA system is old and not well suited to easy transfer of data. And Chu said 4 million records still need to be made electronic. But when asked when the new system might go into effect, Mansfield said only that "it will take a combination of feasibility and ability to have the resources to make it work."
He had similar responses when asked about budget recommendations for 2007 for the VA - and for making sure veterans with mental health issues received the help they need. Mansfield said part of the reason $100 million had not been spent by the VA last year is they could not find mental health counselors willing to go to rural areas to work in veterans' centers, and that it's a new initiative that takes time to put in place.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said more needs to be done immediately. "We do go home to our states, and we do talk to these veterans, and we no longer can face them," she said.
She said they're dealing with long lines and bureaucracy, and there are "serious problems that need to be addressed."
Mansfield said veterans get their first medical appointments within 30 days of making them, but Murray said veterans face six-month waiting periods for critical care, such as surgeries and specialty care.
