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Posts Tagged ‘Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)’
Tuesday, August 7th, 2012
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates 131 national cemeteries, but these burial sites are only present in 39 states and Puerto Rico. There are also 33 monument sites and soldiers’ lots. These limited spaces leave the families of thousands of veterans in less populated areas wondering where to honor their loved one when they pass.
To help the families of veterans make this decision, the VA is establishing a Rural Initiative plan to open eight initial National Veterans Burial Grounds in the Midwest. This will create small sections within existing public and private cemeteries where an estimated 136,000 veterans and dependents may benefit.
With the success of these initial sites, the VA will continue vetting out new opportunities across the nation where there is a veteran population of 25,000 or less in need of such services. This will help allow veterans with a discharge other than dishonorable gain access to the burial benefits they are entitled to through the VA.
The VA provides burial benefits and services for eligible veterans, their spouses, and, in some cases, their dependents. Disabled veterans who apply for and receive veterans’ disability benefits are connected to many VA benefits such as the burial benefits.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veteran’s disability rights firm today – 1-888-234-5758.
Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), veterans burial benefits
Posted in Veterans' Benefits | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 25th, 2012
On July 24th the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric K. Shinseki addressed the attendees of the VFW annual convention to report on the latest progress of his department.
In a report from the VA, Secretary Shinseki proudly announced the various areas of growth and improvement the VA has had in the past three and a half years. As the U.S. comes out of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, they have seen an increase in the number of veterans seeking VA services.
Mr. Shinseki explained some of the issues the VA has had to contend with due to the increased number of veterans. One of his points was the complexity of combat injuries that were once fatal are now treatable, but often result in lifelong disabilities. Another issue his department has dealt with was the low enrollment of veterans in the VA’s program – in 2009 there were over 23 million veterans, yet only 7.4 were enrolled in VA benefit programs.
Since 2009, the VA has worked on increasing access to disability benefits, eliminating the backlog of disability claims, and ending veteran homelessness. His speech concluded with an overview of initiatives being implemented to realize these goals, as well as some highlights of how certain veteran groups will continue to benefit from VA services.
With several generations of veterans, each prone to different unique disabling conditions due to their military service, there is no “one-size-fits-all” disability claim process. A veterans’ disability attorney can give you the individual guidance for your specific disability claim and help you seek the veterans’ disability benefits you deserve.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veteran’s disability rights firm today – 1-888-234-5758.
Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Secretary Eric K. Shinseki
Posted in VA News | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
Several medical facilities run by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have eateries known as Patriot Cafes to help serve the veterans and their families who frequent the centers. As with any hospital food service, kitchen waste is a common result, but the VA has put in place 2 new initiatives for reducing kitchen waste.
Currently, 9 VA hospitals located in West Palm Beach, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Temple, San Francisco, San Diego, and Palo Alto have started these initiatives. The pilot programs, if successful, could spread to as many as 170 facilities in less than 10 months.
The first pilot program is recycling cooking oil at the first 6 locations. Estimates show that the recycling could put over 580,000 pounds of used cooking oil to work in alternative uses, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020 and supporting the VA’s sustainability goal of having 50% waste diversion in the next 3 years.
The other pilot program was a composting experiment, conducted by the Veterans Canteen Service and the Martinsburg VA Medical Center’s Nutrition and Food Service Group, between December 19, 2011 and January 31, 2012. During the trial, the kitchen waste, from the Patriot Café in Martinsburg, was composted with an average of 30 pounds per week being turned into gardening materials. The program won several environmental awards and is planned to expand to West Palm Beach and the California VA locations.
Recycling initiatives such as this can help reduce costs and increase sustainability at VA hospitals around the country. These steps can help allow the VA to focus their funding on disabled veteran services and other important features of the VA health care system.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veteran’s disability rights firm today – 1-888-234-5758.
Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Patriot Cafes, VA medical center, Veterans' Benefits
Posted in General, VA News, Veterans' Benefits | No Comments »
Monday, January 9th, 2012
In their continuing efforts to increase communication with U.S. veterans and their families, The Department of Veterans Affairs has launched 152 new Facebook pages.
In December of 2011, a new Facebook page was established for every VA medical center. This initiative is designed to help give veterans a better way to communicate concerns and obtain information about the programs, services, and benefits available to them through the VA systems.
While individual medical questions are not allowed to be discussed via social media, the medical centers can monitor feedback from the Facebook pages and connect interested veterans to their center’s services and medical care. The VA also plans on expanding these offerings to Twitter for all centers.
The move to social media began in 2008 with the first Facebook page for the Veterans Health Administration. Their social media campaign has expanded to Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and the Vantage Point blog. The VA hopes to follow in the same path for each VA medical center.
Currently, the VA’s combined Facebook pages have a total of over 345,000 subscribers and the medical centers are already making up nearly 20% of that total.
These new pages may be sources of great information to disabled veterans looking for treatment or help with obtaining a disability rating for benefits.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veteran’s disability rights firm today – 1-888-234-5758.
Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), VA medical center, Veterans Disability Benefits, veterans services, Veterans' Resources
Posted in VA News, Veterans' Benefits, Veterans' Resources | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
The VA is in the process of updating their Primary Care Management Module (PCMM), which is the registry and databse for the Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMHs). As of next year, however, the PCMM may also serve to “identify a patient’s healthcare team” and be able to interconnect them to each other and the patient. This way, when medical advice or treatment is provided, it is seen by multiple people and veterans with disabilities can be provided the “opportunity to become their own advocate.”
The PCMHs plans to be integrated into the Military Health System Clinical System. Once that occurs, clinicians can have “a single dashboard” on which is displayed electronic medical records (EMRs) as well as device data. This is significant because it won’t require logging into 2 separate systems, which means looking at multiple pages, to get the necessary information. None of this can be accomplished without the IT departments .
Both patients and health care providers could end up with more accurate, and up-to-date information. Secure messaging is going to be the vehicle in which that is made possible by collecting information on patients’ past questions and concerns so patients are given more information about their current subject matter. The approach is expected to turn out a much more comprehensive experience.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veterans disability rights firm today – 1-888-234-5758.
Tags: Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Disabled Veterans, Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMHs), Veterans disability
Posted in Disabled Veterans, General, VA News, Veterans' Disability, Veterans' Resources | No Comments »
Thursday, September 8th, 2011
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Information Technology (IT) department launched their Project Management Accountability System (PMAS) 2 years ago. The VA’s Assistant Secretary of Information and Technology, Roger Baker, asked the VA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to evaluate the system, which seemed to need improvement to help veterans disability issues.
The system was designed to operate as oversight for IT projects. As of now, it covers about 120 projects currently active and in development. The OIG audit acknowledged the improvements made in the VA’s IT department by implementing PMAS, but also highlighted the large amount of work that still needs to be completed.
According to the audit, the VA has yet to develop the proper protocols to guarantee the data that PMAS oversees is being done accurately. Further, those protocols must ensure project timelines and costs are meeting crucial deadlines.
In addition, in order to follow and document the status of the projects within PMAS, the VA developed an IT dashboard; however, it was found to be unreliable.
There are no safeguards used to review the information being put into the system. Therefore, the VA’s IT department can’t rely on PMAS in its current state to give correct information on IT projects. Once fully functional and in-line, PMAS will serve as a great asset. To get there, however, the system needs a much more detailed plan for execution.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veterans disability rights firm today – 1-888-234-5758.
Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Project Management Accountability System (PMAS), Veterans disability
Posted in General, VA News | No Comments »
Thursday, September 1st, 2011
Spinal cord injuries have become more common over the last several years, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has attempted to treat those injuries to the best of their ability. As the guidelines for veterans disability seem to be in constant flux, the VA is building centers dealing with specific injuries, such as the new spinal cord injury center at Milwaukee’s VA hospital.
The facility will cost $27.5 million and was completely financed by the federal government. The new center will replace the previous spinal injury wing currently existing at the hospital and will expand the facility from 18,000 to 68,000 square feet.
The new facility is not going to increase the number of staff personnel or the number of beds. Instead, the space is increasing so as to make movement and treatment more comfortable for those with spinal injuries. Some of the rooms will become doubles because depression is common among newer patients with spinal cord injuries. Those “new” patients with spinal cord injuries are assigned to rooms with other patients.
Tables in both the day room and the dining room are suspended from the ceiling. This means patients with wheelchairs don’t have to worry about bumping into table legs. Therapy rooms include state-of-the-art equipment to help patients with spinal injuries learn to move again.
The facility will also use virtual reality to help spinal injury patients exercise and participate in physical therapy. Additionally, computers boasting eye gaze, touch screen, and voice command-drive operation will be made available to help those patients needing such technology for various reasons.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veterans disability rights firm today – 1-888-234-5758.
Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Milwaukee VA Hospital, Spinal Cord Injuries, Veterans disability
Posted in Disabled Veterans, VA News, Veterans' Resources | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 31st, 2011
In May, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 ruling against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The Court found the VA did not utilize an effective suicide-prevention plan, nor did they make mental health care available enough to veterans, which had dire ramifications on some attempting to file veterans disability claims for their mental conditions. The Court referred to the VA’s actions as “unchecked incompetence.”
If it stands, the 9th Circuit’s ruling will provide veterans groups with the vehicle they would need to challenge the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) “procedures and timetables to speed health care to veterans.” The current administration is challenging that ruling, and seeks to have a new hearing granted in front of a larger panel on the basis the 9th Circuit “ignored basic limits on judicial authority.”
The administration does not believe the panel had the authority to even hear the case. According to their claim, Congress prevents appellate courts from “second-guessing the VA’s performance of” health care and benefits.
At the time of the original trial, 18 veterans were taking their own lives every day, which far outstretched the national average. For the veterans under VA care, the rate of suicides averaged 4-5 every day with the number of attempted suicides hovering around 1,000 per month.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veterans disability rights firm today – 1-888-234-5758.
Tags: 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), VA Mental Health Care, Veterans disability
Posted in VA News | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
The Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act was passed in 2008 to “ensure veterans get accurate benefits and care.” As part of that act, the Pentagon established the Physical Disability Board of Review (PDBR) in response to multiple reports “adequate” treatment was not being provided to those given veterans’ disability status.
There are approximately 77,000 veterans eligible to have their disability status reviewed by the PDBR, yet only 5%, or about 2,400, of them have applied for their review. US Sen Mark Udall has asked Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Sec. Eric Shinseki to coordinate with the Department of Defense (DoD) to contact those veterans qualifying for review of their disability status and alert them of their right to appeal to the PDBR. It is essential the veterans’ disability compensation and retirement benefits being issued are fair and adequate.
Veterans have the right to address the PDBR and ensure the disability rating they were given upon their separation from the military is accurate and they are being given all their owed benefits and services. In the few years since it was created, the PDBR has granted higher disability ratings to 56% of the veteran’s cases it has reviewed.
One reason many veterans have not applied for review is because the DoD no longer has accurate contact information in order to alert them of their right to appeal to the PDBR. According to Sen. Udall, the VA usually has more up-to-date information and is in a better position to reach many of these veterans. Sen. Udall, therefore, is asking Sec. Shinseki to have the VA share their database information with the DoD and work together in a combined effort to alert all veterans of their right to appeal.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veterans disability rights firm today – 1-888-234-5758.
Tags: Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Physical Disability Board of Review (PDBR), The Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act, Veterans disability
Posted in Disabled Veterans, Veterans' Disability | No Comments »
Thursday, August 18th, 2011
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) were ordered to work together in order to create a joint health IT interagency office. The aim of this office was to increase the speed at which electronic health records (EHRs) for active duty soldiers as well as veterans can be exchanged between the agencies through a single point of access. Streamlining access to these files would likely improve the speed at which veterans disability claims are processed and help to eliminate the VA’s claim backlog.
That order was given 3 years ago and the office has yet to be completed. The entire project has come to a complete standstill, and the blame rests with both agencies.
Three specific issues arose, which caused the office’s development to stall out:
- a complete lack of leadership;
- severe understaffing; and
- bureaucratic fighting between the VA and the DoD.
Both departments, however, have had enough and are vowing to get back on track. Last March both the DoD and the VA came to an understanding as to what they would be creating. It was agreed upon by both agencies their goal is to “create a single electronic health record with compatible data, user interfaces and a common data center.”
Having established a goal, the agencies jointly appointed a new director for the project. Within weeks, the departments plan to improve the joint program’s charter, which will reveal the cooperative approach to health information technology both departments plan on following to meet their goal.
Both departments have been stubbornly refusing to let go of their respectful “authority to the office.” Of the 22 positions needed to properly manage the joint office, only 8 have been filled. The newly developed resolution between the two departments may be too little, too late, however.
Rep. Joe Donnelly (R-Ind) recently introduced the Ensuring Servicemembers Electronic Records Viability Act (HR 2470). If this bill passes, control of the EHRs would belong to neither the VA nor the DoD, but rather would rest solely with the interagency office. Both the DoD and the VA oppose that measure, which may be up for vote by early September.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veterans disability rights firm today – 1-888-234-5758.
Tags: Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Electronic Health Record (EHR), Ensuring Servicemembers Electronic Records Viability Act (HR 2470)., Veterans disability
Posted in Disabled Veterans | No Comments »
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