Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 7-29-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans

1. Obama Cabinet To Work Together At Blair House.  
2. US Army Hopes Extreme Sports Can Assist Returning Vets.  
3. Questions Raised About Status Of VA’s Project HERO. 
4. During Testimony, Surgeon Failed To Disclose Relationship With Medical-Device Maker.  
5. House Votes To Increase Grants For Disabled Vets’ Home Alterations.
6. Concern Expressed About Baker’s Plan For IT Projects At VA.  
7. VA Discusses Proposal To Help Homeless At A New Facility In Canandaigua.  
8. Bay Pines VAMC Breaks Ground On Radiation Therapy Center.  
9. VA Hospital, Fired Doctor Reach Settlement.  
10. Mobile Heath Care Unit On The Road In West Virginia.

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Read to the Top!
Secretary and Mrs. Shinseki joined Education Secretary Arne Duncan for the Department of Education’s summer reading initiative, "Read to the Top!" The Education Department has partnered with community organizations nationwide to combat summer reading loss. Secretary Duncan read "The Imaginary Garden;" Secretary Shinseki read "Night Catch;" and Mrs. Shinseki read "I Feel a Foot!" to more than 100 children in grades pre-K through 4. The children are from Bolling Air Force Base, the Fort Myer Youth Services program, and the Anacostia children’s development center.

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1.      Obama Cabinet To Work Together At Blair House.   The AP (7/29) reports, "President Barack Obama’s Cabinet members are going to spend part of their" upcoming "weekend at work. The 22 officials with Cabinet rank plan to meet with White House senior staff at Blair House on Friday and Saturday. The idea is for the administration’s top officials to bond – and to look" at the President’s "agenda going forward during the meeting at the government’s official guest house." The lead item in the Washington Post‘s (7/29, A3, Shear) "Politics Digest" also notes the meeting.

2.      US Army Hopes Extreme Sports Can Assist Returning Vets.   The AP (7/29) reports, "More than 323,000" US Army soldiers "have served more than one deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to Defense Department statistics entering June, and the Army had the highest rate of suicides on record last year." Meanwhile, researchers "reported this month that 37 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans seeking care at Veterans Affairs clinics for the first time are being diagnosed with mental health disorders. The situation" has the US military "searching for ways to supplement and redefine its counseling and self-awareness evaluation programs, and now, for ways to bring the thrilling terror of war home through safe outlets," like a "new Army program called Warrior Adventure Quest. It sends soldiers just back from war on outings of paintball, mountain biking, scuba diving, sky diving, whitewater rafting, alpine skiing, snowboarding and rock climbing."

3.      Questions Raised About Status Of VA’s Project HERO.   On its website, WCCO-TV Minneapolis, MN (7/28) noted that since 2008 veteran Dale Dobesh, a "longtime WCCO-TV pilot," has "been seeing his family dentist through the a Department of Veterans Affair program called" Project HERO, which "stands for health care effectiveness through resource optimization." But at Dobesh’s dental "appointment on Monday, the hygienist wanted to do some X-rays, so she asked the office’s administrator to get approval," but was turned down. Later, Dobesh "called the VA. He said someone there told him Congress had cut funding" for Project HERO "and that it was going away," but Ralph Heussner, a spokesperson for the VA, "said Project Hero is still in business."

4.      During Testimony, Surgeon Failed To Disclose Relationship With Medical-Device Maker.   The Wall Street Journal (7/29, Armstrong, Burton, 2.01M) reports, "In May 2006, University of Minnesota spine surgeon David Polly urged a Senate committee to fund research into the severe arm, leg and spine injuries suffered by soldiers in Iraq and elsewhere." But he "didn’t disclose during his testimony…that his trip to Washington was paid for by Medtronic Inc., the big medical-device maker whose bone growth product, called Infuse, has been used to treat soldiers, according to company records." Polly, who "was paid $1.14 million by Medtronic for consulting services from 2004 to 2007," and "colleagues in Minnesota subsequently received a $466,644 Department of Defense grant for a two-year study beginning in February 2007 to evaluate Infuse in cases where an injury is also infected, according to the university." The Journal adds that details of "Polly’s consultant billing

were provided by Medtronic to Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who has been scrutinizing the relationship between academics and industry." Medtronic’s "relationships with doctors have drawn increased government scrutiny in recent months. The Justice Department is investigating the work of Timothy Kuklo, an Army surgeon and Medtronic consultant who has been accused by the Army of fabricating the results of a study that reported advantages in healing the legs of injured soldiers when Infuse was used."

5.      House Votes To Increase Grants For Disabled Vets’ Home Alterations.   CQ (7/29, Johnson) reports, "The House on Tuesday passed" HR 1293, "a bill that would increase grants for disabled veterans to make improvements and structural alterations to their homes. Under the measure," which "passed 426-0, veterans with service-connected disabilities would be entitled to $6,800 and those with non-service connected disabilities would receive $2,000 for the home projects." The

"current grants are $4,100 for veterans with service-connected disabilities and $1,200 for veterans with non-service-connected disabilities."

6.      Concern Expressed About Baker’s Plan For IT Projects At VA.   In continuing coverage, Modern Healthcare (7/29, Conn), running part two of a two-part series on IT projects at the Veterans Affairs Department, says during a slide presentation in June, Roger Baker, the VA’s assistant secretary for information and technology, "noted that after reviewing more than 280" of the VA’s IT programs, "many ‘exhibited signs of trouble,’ including some that were more than 13 months behind schedule or 50% over an initial cost estimate. Baker also noted a diminution in software quality between releases and ‘inadequate skills’ available to complete some projects, adding that ‘substantial change is required.’" Baker then "outlined his new ‘program-management accountability system,’ or ‘PMAS,’ under which software development ‘will be managed rigorously to schedule’ with frequent, documented delivery milestones occurring ‘at most every six months.’" Modern Healthcare notes that when it asked Frederick D.S. "Rick" Marshall, who has had a long association with VistA, the VA’s interoperable electronic health record system, about Baker’s plan, Marshall said, "I’m seeing intelligence and good intentions," but "he doesn’t yet grasp what he’s up against." Marshall added, "Centralizing IT management won’t work in an organization as large as the VA with a software system as complex as VistA and with as vibrant and fast changing an environment as healthcare," but Baker "might be open to hear what is needed to move forward. I’d like to talk to him."

7.      VA Discusses Proposal To Help Homeless At A New Facility In Canandaigua.   On its website, WROC-TV Rochester, NY (7/28, Frazer) reported, "The Department of Veteran Affairs wants to turn" a vacant building at the Canandaigua Veterans Affairs Medical Center "and the land around it into a multipurpose facility. ‘What we wanna do is provide transitional housing for veterans from across the Canandaigua area. We know there are homeless veterans who need additional services,’ says Jay Halpern" of the VA, which held a meeting Tuesday "to get feedback from veterans on the proposal." WROC added that the "new facility would provide transitional housing, job training and counseling," but "not everyone thinks the redevelopment is a good idea." Ralph Calabrese, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, "says the VA hasn’t been upfront with everyone. He thinks its part of a plan to eventually

close the hospital," but the "VA disagrees." RNEWS-TV Rochester, NY (7/28, 11:13 p.m. ET) and WHUF-TV Rochester, NY (7/28, 10:23 p.m. ET) aired similar reports.

8.      Bay Pines VAMC Breaks Ground On Radiation Therapy Center.   The Seminole (FL) Beacon (7/28) noted that on Tuesday, July 21st, the Bay Pines Veterans Affairs Medical Center "broke ground…on a new radiation therapy center where veterans will be able to receive state-of-the-art cancer care." Currently, the Bay Pines VAMC "does not offer radiation therapy and refers patients to the James A. Haley VA Hospital in Tampa or a community provider." The Beacon added, "Expected to open in the late fall of 2010," the radiation therapy center "will include two shielded vaults for radiation therapy, a CT scanner, a treatment planning room, a physicists room, exam rooms, and offices."

9.      VA Hospital, Fired Doctor Reach Settlement.   The AP (7/29) reports the Veterans Affairs medical center "west of Helena says it has reached a settlement" with74-year-old ophthalmologist Harvey Casebeer, a doctor whose March "firing was made public in a VA inspector general’s report early" this month. Casebeer "was not named in the report, which said he was fired for delivering substandard care and falsifying medical records." The AP notes that on Tuesday, a "disciplinary appeals board had been planning to meet" and discuss the firing after Casebeer "argued the complaint may have been retaliatory." Charles Hail, a VA attorney, "says terms of the settlement are confidential and bring an end to the process. He says Casebeer will not be returning to work." KFBB-TV Great Falls, MT (7/28, 10:08 p.m. MT) and KTVH-TV Helena, MT (7/28, 10:06 p.m. MT) aired similar reports.

10.    Mobile Heath Care Unit On The Road In West Virginia.   WBOY-TV Clarksburg, WV (7/28, 5:10 p.m. ET) broadcast that the Veterans Affairs hospital "in Clarksburg has taken its care on the road. The VA’s new mobile heath care unit was parked in front of the Marion County Senior Center" Tuesday. The "mobile clinic is one of just four in the country."