Monday, November 26, 2012

Matters that need to addressed now:

Claim processing Times (which also affects the bottom line)

  • My simple dependency claim took 11.5 months to process
  • My Agent Orange vs Larynx Cancer/diabetes/tinnitus /ED is taking over 16 months


  • Find alternative ways of verifying information; use available automated government systems such as DEERS, IRS, and other military personnel and medical records. They are already up and running but not utilized to anywhere close to their capacity. 
    • This realignment in itself will shave months if not years off current processing times and costs very little if anything to implement
    • It will also provide VA with more current and verifiable information
    • The interface with DEERS would have reduced my dependency claim from 11.5 months to merely days since all the required information was already in the system and already verified from original documents.
    • It will considerably reduce the backlog of cases VA currently having a tremendous affect on all other claims and processes throughout VA.
    • Do not contract thousands of civilian physicians at exorbitant costs to verify the current status of an illness or condition if the veteran is currently being seen by VA or Military physicians. Instead verify through the above mentions medical records automated systems. Much faster and extremely cheaper.
  • Realign current processes
    • It does not take money to save money; just the right ideas to improve current processes (hopefully without the bureaucracy and red tape)
    • Checks and Balances are not removed only realigned for accuracy and effectiveness
    • Under the current procedure my claim will take will over 2 years to finalize more than half in the final stage of rating. Rating should be the shortest of them all; verifying it is complete (not verifying documents or history). That should be done at the beginning of the process. 
    • Re-examine all current processes for necessity and appropriate placing in the time line of a claim. Requesting all my medical records from two branches of the service and for 23 years of service ending over 25 years ago and 14 years before my illness/condition existed. This is ludicrous. 
  • Remove duplicity of tasks
    • During my current claim for Agent Orange many tasks were duplicated over and over again
    • Similar tasks are repeated for each illness/condition claimed 
  • Unify Resources instead of alienating them
    • I was sent to five different contract physicians to verify illnesses/conditions previously treated successfully and only have  to treat the side-effects of them. I currently am being treated on base by active duty and contract physicians already funded. This is an absurd waste of fiscal resources.
    • They also requested my completed Naval Medical Records from 1965-1970 and my entire Army medical records from 1970-1988 to support of my claim for cancer that occurred in 2002. This will delay m,y claim which is has been in the final strep of the process (rating) for the past six months already for another three months. 
In short you do not have to invest more money to make things better; just invest some time in realigning and improvising what you already have. In addition to the cost savings; you will reduce if not eliminate life changing stress our veterans and their families are currently experiencing under the current system.  

This Page...

The purpose of this main page besides describing the purpose of this blog is to list the important things to our Veterans that are appreciated as well as not. I will post those that I am told by the reader base then all of you can comment on each one as it is posted here. Our intent is to inform Congress and VA of those areas that are intolerable and need reform not to rant uncontrollably. Whenever possible suggesting ways we can see to improve or reverse the issue. To be fair we will also post those areas that we appreciate and value deeply. It will become the unified voice of all our honorable veterans. When addressing multiple areas, please address them in separate comments and begin each comment with the area you are addressing to keep them straight. Thank you for your service and I feel your pain.