A 21st Century System for Evaluating Veterans for Disability Benefits

A 21st Century System for Evaluating Veterans for Disability Benefits PDF

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2007-09-30

Total Pages: 406

ISBN-13: 0309106311

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21st Century System for Evaluating Veterans' Disability Benefits recommends improvements in the medical evaluation and rating of veterans for the benefits provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to compensate for illnesses or injuries incurred in or aggravated by military service. Compensation is a monthly cash benefit based on a rating schedule that determines the degree of disability on a scale of 0 to 100. Although a disability rating may also entitle a veteran to ancillary services, such as vocational rehabilitation and employment services, the rating schedule is out of date medically and contains ambiguous criteria and obsolete conditions and language. The current rating schedule emphasizes impairment and limitations or loss of specific body structures and functions which may not predict disability well. 21st Century System for Evaluating Veterans' Disability Benefits recommends that this schedule could be revised to include modern concepts of disability including work disability, nonwork disability, and quality of life. In addition to the need for an updated rating schedule, this book highlights the need for the Department of Veterans' Affairs to devote additional resources to systematic analysis of how well it is providing services or how much the lives of veterans are being improved, as well as the need for a program of research oriented toward understanding and improving the effectiveness of its benefits programs.

PTSD Compensation and Military Service

PTSD Compensation and Military Service PDF

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2007-08-25

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 0309105528

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The scars of war take many forms: the limb lost, the illness brought on by a battlefield exposure, and, for some, the psychological toll of encountering an extremely traumatic event. PTSD Compensation and Military Service presents a thorough assessment of how the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs evaluates veterans with possible posttraumatic stress disorder and determines the level of disability support to which they are entitled. The book presents a history of mental health disability compensation of military personnel and reviews the current compensation and pension examination procedure and disability determination methodology. It offers a number of recommendations for changes that would improve the fairness, consistency, and scientific foundation of this vital program. This book will be of interest and importance to policy makers, veterans affairs groups, the armed forces, health care organizations, and veterans themselves.

Evaluation of the Disability Determination Process for Traumatic Brain Injury in Veterans

Evaluation of the Disability Determination Process for Traumatic Brain Injury in Veterans PDF

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2019-05-20

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 0309486890

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The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) provides disability compensation to veterans with a service-connected injury, and to receive disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), a veteran must submit a claim or have a claim submitted on his or her behalf. Evaluation of the Disability Determination Process for Traumatic Brain Injury in Veterans reviews the process by which the VA assesses impairments resulting from traumatic brain injury for purposes of awarding disability compensation. This report also provides recommendations for legislative or administrative action for improving the adjudication of veterans' claims seeking entitlement to compensation for all impairments arising from a traumatic brain injury.

U.S. Department of Defense Disability Compensation Under a Fitness-For-Duty Evaluation Approach

U.S. Department of Defense Disability Compensation Under a Fitness-For-Duty Evaluation Approach PDF

Author: Stephanie Rennane

Publisher:

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781977408006

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The joint U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)-Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Integrated Disability Evaluation System is the process by which DoD determines fitness for duty and separation or retirement of service members because of disability. Service members who are evaluated for disability undergo a comprehensive medical examination to document all medical conditions and receive a disability rating for every condition documented during the exam. DoD and the VA use these ratings to determine the amount of disability compensation service members receive if they are determined to be unfit to continue serving and consequently medically discharged. Proposals for reforming the DoD compensation system have been considered in the past, but a rigorous evaluation of what those alternatives might look like and how they would affect service member benefits and costs to DoD has not been conducted. In this report, the authors describe their evaluation of four hypothetical alternative disability compensation approaches that would support a simpler disability evaluation process: compensating based on the current objectives of the DoD system (and using current benefit formulas), compensating on the basis of a military career, compensating on the basis of unfitting conditions, or compensating similar to U.S. allies. Each alternative reduces reliance on disability ratings for determining DoD disability compensation and focuses primarily on a single decision about whether a service member is fit to perform his or her duties. The authors evaluate the potential effects of each alternative on service member compensation, processing times, end strength, lost skills and experience, and readiness.

Evaluation of the Disability Determination Process for Traumatic Brain Injury in Veterans

Evaluation of the Disability Determination Process for Traumatic Brain Injury in Veterans PDF

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2019-06-20

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 0309486866

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The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) provides disability compensation to veterans with a service-connected injury, and to receive disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), a veteran must submit a claim or have a claim submitted on his or her behalf. Evaluation of the Disability Determination Process for Traumatic Brain Injury in Veterans reviews the process by which the VA assesses impairments resulting from traumatic brain injury for purposes of awarding disability compensation. This report also provides recommendations for legislative or administrative action for improving the adjudication of veterans' claims seeking entitlement to compensation for all impairments arising from a traumatic brain injury.

Military Disability System

Military Disability System PDF

Author: Daniel Bertoni

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2009-05

Total Pages: 54

ISBN-13: 1437910610

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In Feb. 2007, a series of articles in ¿The Washington Post¿ about conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center highlighted problems in the military¿s disability evaluation system (DES). Subsequently, the Dept. of the Army, the DoD, and the VA undertook initiatives to address concerns with the DES. In 2007, the Army took steps to streamline its process, and DoD and VA began piloting a joint evaluation system to address systemic concerns abut timeliness and the potential inefficiency of having separate DES. This report examines: (1) recent actions by the Army to help servicemembers navigate its DES; and (2) the status, plans, and challenges of DoD and VA¿s efforts to pilot and implement a joint DES Includes recommendations. Illustrations.