Fixing The Va

[hurryupnwait]

There's a lot of talk these days about fixing the VA. We have very talented people on Hadit and many know about the problems and issues with the VA, so let's start thinking about how to fix them. A Hadit think tank if you will.

When replying could we keep a format such as;

Issue: Slow processing of claims.

Fix: Hire and train more raters.

Cheers

Paul

[Capt.]

Hello All and Merry Christmas to one fine family. I have to agree with most everything said and it probably goes without saying that the system is slothful.....sloths are exitinct in America for about 9500-12000 yrs. Call the VA a mammoth, sloth, archaeic , way behind the times.....the problem still is that it is old ,,,it doesn't work, and rewards poor work with more personnel needed to fix it. It's the same story of the little boy and his finger in the dike....too many holes and ran out of fingers to plug them.

I don't believe that training more people in something that is broke is the secret. We can see that all around in our government, financial institions, CEO's, and the economy. There is always a group of people who have NOT Done their jobs.

I am very interested in what Jerrel Cook and Watchdog said about Mr. Obama has basically let a large number of upper management of the DOD go. I applaud this. Our problems really start there and trickle down to the VA. Second , I am hoping that several things could happen and that would start with the new Sec of VA , General Shinfeki, by immediately telling Congress MAJOR changes are coming. First the "old guard" rooted into this stalling system at every RO would be retired , asked to leave....period. Someone has to take the blame. The VARO has ALL the power and it is the start of 80 percent of the denials and subsequent remand problems. In almost everycase the remand is because the VARO did not see or want to review properly the claim evidence and records. So if these people rooted in power and decision making are gone then bring in the new from within the VA that can move the claim properly. It is not adding the 3600 new adjudicators as they did to help with the backlog ...it is the system that will not allow a proper INITIAL decisions. Those people can easily take the load , but should, as Pete as said, if these RO's have a high remand percentage, then they should be gone. Second the Secretary can ask Congress to fix specific problems in the adjudication process. To ease the adjudication process and make sure the Veteran is Physically and FINANCIALLY taken care of thru the process. That the Secretary could ask for the VHA to have more control and rightful decision making over the VBA to help those Veterans that are injured, or sick. I do not for the life of me see how a Regional office clerk has more power over deciding if a veteran is sick or not than a Doctor. In short the Doctor trumps the VARO decision or opinion and that includes the BVA. That he needs to strip QTC of their power and stop this Sec of the VA relationships to CEO and Board members. Princippi and Peake for instance. QTC is unneccessary and cost over 1 billion dollars a year in contracts to the VA ....alittle corruptive as most of you have led or said. These local VA doctors would have the ability and their nexus would be used in the way it is suppose to. To help the Vet get his rightful claim thru the first time. This in itself would allow the backlog to start reducing its numbers because there would not be as many appeals nor remands. To allow the doctor to make this decision is only logical. How can you bring a doctor or nurse practioner that does not know any history of the veteran in to make a decision that usually does not make any sense to anyone. All it does is cause more wasted time and money to appeal that decision too. I also think the VA Secretary could ask congress to form a governing board that was only veterans that have been thru the system, to review how the VARO as a whole are doing, take legitamate complaints make recommendations to the Secretary and Congress for major changes if needed.That any laws by Congress must be approved by this Vet board. Not a board as is now, filled with Admirals and Generals that have never had to use the VA..... I also agree Pete , that the TDIU process should be short and Petes idea , I really like.. Ok so this is just my opinion and yes I am going to write the new Secretary and suggest to him what problems are needed to be addressed. I would suggest this to all of our Hadit family. This thing is broken and we all agree it needs to be fixed.......it may now have some chance and already some of the old guard are being dismissed. I do want to thank all of you for your help and your encouragment with my battle fighting the dragon VA and to wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas. God Bless, C.C. NEVER GIVE UP

[AnonyMousVet]

How would one go about about using the FOIA to receive copies of the contracts signed by QTC and the VA? I would love to see what kind of language is in them?

[tssnave]

I agree w/ 71M10.

ISSUE: Not following their own regulations.

SOLUTION: Set up a feedback system and if the vet can show how the VA did not follow their own rules and regulations, the rater who signed off on the Decision gets a black mark and is required, in his free time, to take training on that particular regulation before he can rate claims again.

Seriously, there needs to be accountability in the rating process and there's not unless you count the appeals process.

[bob_abad]

Ongoing VA related "FRAUD" needs to be looked at as a top priority of the incoming Secretary.

[hurryupnwait]

Issue: The VBA is broken and needs to be reorganized.

Fix: I have never thought that my medical claim being rated by a non medically trained bureaucrat was a sound idea. I d like to do something like the following:

Step 1. A team would review the claim to see if it meets the three things required for service connection:

1) an in-service event (illness, injury, etc),

2) a current disability, and

3) a nexus, or link, between 1 and 2.

If not, then sent it back with what is needed to meet the requirements.

If yes, then send it to step 2

Step 2 Send the claim to a Medical board, which would consist of three doctors, they need to be real live doctors with a pulse. These doctors would be specialists in the field of the most prevalent medical condition of the claimant.

The claimant would be examined by each doctor individually at the same location. Each doctor would rate the claim. The three ratings would be averaged out and that would be the claimant's rating.

I would be much more comfortable having a doctor give me a rating than a bureaucrat at the RO.

Step 3 If the claimant appealed the rating then he/she would be sent to be examined by three other doctors for a second rating. Repeat step two

Step 4 If the claimant wanted to appeal this decision then it would be sent to BVA.

Happy Trails

Paul

Edited December 13, 2008 by hurryupnwait

[john999]

I think the VA is so broken they should just grant all claims. If the Vet has the service and their is no evidence to deny the claim it should be granted. So many vets are short changed that I think all claims should be granted. It is like AO presumptive conditions. The VA can't sort out the good claims from the bad claims so give the Vet the benefit of the doubt.