Commission to Survey Veterans' Health Care

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Presidential Commission to Survey Veterans' Health Care

By Hope Yen, Associated Press

Saturday, June 30, 2007; Page A08

A presidential panel said yesterday that it is compiling a

first-of-its-kind national survey to determine scientifically the

extent of health-care problems for veterans returning from Iraq and

Afghanistan.

Speaking in its last public hearing before considering final

recommendations, the nine-member commission said its final report

could shed light on a long point of dispute in the veterans care

debate: whether highly publicized horror stories of lost paperwork,

delays in disability benefits and other problems are isolated or

significantly widespread.

" With this survey, we should be able to say some things in a more

systematic way, " former health and human services secretary Donna E.

Shalala said in an interview. " One thing that will make our report

truly different is that it will be evidence-based, based on the

current science and present-day practice. "

Former senator J. Dole (R-Kan.), who co-chairs the panel with

Shalala, said he is not ready to put the moral weight of a

presidential commission behind findings and recommendations until he

sees some actual numbers.

" We don't want a bunch of Band-Aids that further complicate the system

and create more problems, " Dole said. " Observations sometimes don't

translate to reality. "

The panel hopes to issue its report by mid-July.

President Bush created the commission March 6 to devise

recommendations for veterans' care following reports of shoddy

outpatient treatment at Walter Army Medical Center.

But Congress is already moving forward with its own efforts to improve

care. A bill approved earlier this month by the Senate Armed Services

Committee would make sweeping changes to improve coordination between

the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Pentagon, increasing family

services, boosting disability pay, and overhauling how it is decided

and doled out.

The full Senate is expected to consider the measure in July.

Earlier in the hearing, congressional leaders urged commission members

to embrace bold solutions and use their influence with Bush to push

through changes after years of delay. Lawmakers were open to adding

amendments to the bill that would incorporate the commission's

recommendations, they said.

" You can give a major push legislatively but still encounter

resistance within the agencies, " said Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.),

chairman of the Armed Services Committee. " It has to be hammered home. "

Rep. Steve Buyer (Ind.), the top Republican on the House Veterans'

Affairs Committee, was more blunt.

" We do not need legislation to do the right thing for our service

members -- we need leaders in the executive branch to take charge of

their bureaucrats, " he said. " I was heartened when the president

formed this commission. . . . I remain hopeful, even confident, that

your work will take advantage of that support. "

Shalala said the final report will take into account the Senate

legislation but will seek to be concise and understandable to the

average reader, with about a dozen pointed recommendations.

Reports from as long as 10 years ago have cited problems of poor

Pentagon and VA coordination, but may have been ignored or lost in the

shuffle partly because of their length and complexity, she said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/29/AR2007062902090.\

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