Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 9-30-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans

1. VA Staffs Veterans’ Survivors Advocacy Office. 
2. VA Awards Contract To Expand, Improve Houston National Cemetery Project. 
3. Pentagon Investigating Army’s Handling Of Troop Exposure To Cancer-Causing Chemical. 
4. Veteran Defends VA’s Processing Of New GI Bill Payments. 
5. Hearing To Focus On VA Contracts For Health Services. 
6. Company Develops New Melanoma Test. 
7. VA, Defense Face EHR Interoperability Deadline. 
8. Provider Interoperability A Problem As Medical Industry Attempts Switch To EHRs. 
9. VA Home Loans On The Rise In California But Many Vets Being "Nudged Aside." 
10.     Military experience, some find, is tough to translate on resumes.  

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American Gold Star Mothers and Families Day

Secretary Shinseki observed the 69th anniversary of Gold Star Mothers Day at Arlington Cemetery, September 27, 2009 with a ceremony and wreath laying. Gold Star Mothers and Families Day is an annual remembrance of mothers who lost sons and daughters in military service. The American Gold Star Mothers is a unique service organization, chartered by Congress on June 4, 1928, to honor deceased service members and their mothers. The group volunteers to help hospitalized Veterans in facilities operated by the VA. They also work with the families of military personnel killed on active duty 

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1.      VA Staffs Veterans’ Survivors Advocacy Office.  The Lake County (CA) News (9/30) reports, "To strengthen the programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs…for the survivors of the nation’s veterans and military personnel, the department has staffed an office to serve as their advocate, with a charter that includes creating or modifying programs, benefits and services." The News notes that Eric Shinseki, head of the VA, commented on the development, saying, "By taking care of survivors, we are honoring a commitment made to our veterans and military members." The News adds, "The establishment" of the survivors’ advocate office "was authorized in the Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 2008." 

2.      VA Awards Contract To Expand, Improve Houston National Cemetery Project.  The Houston Chronicle (9/30, Wise, 427K) reports, "The Department of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday announced a $1 million contract to begin expansion and improvements at the 44-year-old Houston National Cemetery." The VA "awarded the contract – valued at $1,120,559 – to RVI Planning of Austin, which will prepare construction documents to develop 20 acres into new burial sections." The "layout and design work by RVI Planning is part of a six-phase, $35 million project to add 23,750 grave sites and about 6,000 cremation sites to the cemetery, said Jorge Lopez, the cemetery’s director." The Chronicle notes that in a statement, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said, "By awarding this design contract, we begin the process of expanding and improving this historic national shrine."   

3.      Pentagon Investigating Army’s Handling Of Troop Exposure To Cancer-Causing Chemical.  The Oregonian (9/30, Sullivan, 276K) reports, "The Pentagon’s inspector general is investigating whether" the US Army "mishandled troops exposed to a cancer-causing chemical in Iraq in 2003. The review comes after seven Senate Democrats charged that the Army and war contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root may have exposed hundreds of soldiers to dangerous levels of hexavalent chromium while they guarded civilian workers at a water treatment plant. Among the troops exposed are at least 292 Oregon Army National Guard soldiers, including 16 who say they were sickened by the contact." The Oregonian notes that US Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) "praised the inspector general’s willingness to review the matter, along with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, who promised a ‘complete and comprehensive response’ in a Sept. 17 letter." 
 

4.      Veteran Defends VA’s Processing Of New GI Bill Payments.  In continuing coverage, the Army Times (9/30, Maze, 104K) reports Kevin Ramey, a "retired Navy chief petty officer," has "jumped in to defend the Veterans Affairs Department’s processing of Post-9/11 GI Bill payments, saying he received his benefits on time and without much fuss." The veteran, a student at "Old Dominion University in Virginia, said Tuesday he applied months early for benefits and spent a lot of time making sure he was doing everything right. ‘I am one of the 27,500 people who received benefits on time,’ Ramey said. ‘A lot of pressure has been put on VA because of this program,’" but "to be fair, the veterans and the schools need to take some ownership as well." The Times notes that Ramey added, ""This was not a delay. It was right in line with when VA said they would start sending out results."  

5.      Hearing To Focus On VA Contracts For Health Services.  In its "Today at a Glance" column, CQ (9/30) notes that at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in 418 Russell, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing "on Veterans Affairs Department contracts for health services"  

6.      Company Develops New Melanoma Test.  On its website, KGTV-TV San Diego, CA (9/29) said DermTech, a company based in La Jolla, California, "has developed a new method of detecting" melanoma, the "deadliest form of skin cancer." Currently, a "doctor has to cut a patient’s mole and send it to a lab for results — a process that many patients say is painful and often times comes back negative." DermTech, however, "says their new test comes without the pain. The company’s MelDTect test has the patient apply a special piece of tape to their skin and it collects genetic information." The tape is later "sent to a lab to be studied." Dr. Bill Wachsman, a cancer researcher at the University of California, San Diego," and a Veterans Affairs hospital in the area, "told 10News he supports the MelDTect test." The test "still has to receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration."  

7.      VA, Defense Face EHR Interoperability Deadline.  In his "What’s Brewin’" blog for NextGov (9/29), Bob Brewin noted that the "Defense and the Veterans Affairs departments are supposed to achieve full interoperability of their electronic health record systems come Wednesday. The meshing of the systems was mandated by the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act," and "I hear the joint Defense/VA interagency program office is working right up to the deadline. I also hear that Rear Adm. Gregory Timberlake, who heads the program office, will not deliver his interoperability report to the Defense and VA senior leadership until early next week, at which point I hope he will talk with me." According to Brewin, the handing over of the report "will mark the end of Timberlake’s tour and he plans to return to civilian life, but the program office will live on, charged with developing the unified lifetime health record endorsed by President Obama in April. I hear that the program office is still
looking for a new director, a challenging but exciting job for a general or SESer who relishes working long days." 

 8.      Provider Interoperability A Problem As Medical Industry Attempts Switch To EHRs.  The AP (9/30) reports, "Doctor’s offices and hospitals have slowly started the difficult switch from outmoded paper records to sophisticated electronic systems in a bid to improve care and cut costs. Making records more accessible is a big part of the effort," but the "industry still has to figure out how to ensure the records don’t get locked into just one health care provider’s computer network and can instead follow patients as they move around. ‘It’s increasingly frustrating for us and other providers that it’s difficult to find a workable interface,’ said Dr. James. E. Sanders, chief of staff" for the US VA’s "Kansas City Medical Center. ‘Our systems don’t talk to each other.’ Interoperability, or allowing providers to share records and view them from anywhere, is a requirement for facilities to receive some of the more than $17 billion in stimulus funding the government is offering to encourage adoption of electronic medical records. Congress likely will penalize providers who aren’t using them by 2014, cutting their Medicaid and Medicare payments," but the "debate over interoperability among health care providers, which has been going on for years, could take well beyond the 2014 timeframe to be solved, industry experts say." 

9.      VA Home Loans On The Rise In California But Many Vets Being "Nudged Aside."  The San Diego Union-Tribune (9/29, Showley, 278K) reported, "Nearly 3,700 San Diego military families – almost triple last year’s rate – have used their Veterans Affairs benefits to buy in the past year, as other loans requiring bigger down payments and better credit became less attractive. An increase in the VA loan limit has also brought most homes on the market within reach of military buyers," but "many of the would-be buyers are coming up empty-handed, nudged aside by investors and all-cash buyers and ignored by agents, sellers and bankers who don’t want to work with VA buyers" because of tougher loan requirements. The "upshot is that VA buyers can spend months bidding for affordable homes and lose out," but while bankers, "brokers and VA officials acknowledge the problem," they "offer no solutions short of new regulations that would give special preference to veterans."
      In a related story, the KXTV-TV Sacramento, CA (9/29, Warren) website said, "Active duty and military veterans are eligible for 100 percent financing on home purchases," but "trying to use that financing to buy a bank-owned home can be nearly impossible. ‘I think it’s absolutely disgraceful,’ said Vacaville realtor Robin Miller," who "has submitted a dozen offers on bank-owned homes in the Fairfield area on behalf of Sgt. Jason Goul, who is on active duty at Travis Air Force Base. All the offers have been rejected." KXTV added, "Some banks actually include…no-VA" or Federal Housing Administration "financing language in the confidential agent remarks of a real estate listing. Agents say banks generally dislike VA and FHA financing because it can cost them time, money and
paperwork," but Miller "said his VA buyer offered well over the asking price on one bank-owned home that was eventually sold to a cash buyer for $50,000 less. ‘What is at work here is the banks can’t be bothered with VA buyers,’ he said." 

10.    Military experience, some find, is tough to translate on resumes.  Katie Johnston Chase, Boston Globe (9/27) –Speaking to the issues veterans face upon returning home from the military, the article focuses on the struggle veterans face in reintegrating back into the work force as well as discusses what is available here in Massachusetts to assist them.