Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 11-25-09

What’s Inside Today’s Local News for Veterans 

1. Fraud, Abuse Found In Contracts Designated For Service-Disabled Veterans.
2. Senate Approves Increased IT Budget For VA. 
3. Hospital Administrator: Bidding Process On VA Clinic Was Unfair.
4. In 2009, US Military Suicides Outnumber Those Killed In Iraq, Afghanistan. 
5. During Training, Police Officers Learn About Stresses Faced By Returning Vets. 
6. Legion Post Treats VA Patients To Thanksgiving Lunch. 
7. Korean War Memorial Dedicated At Cemetery In California. 
8. VA, Kaiser To Link Electronic Medical Record Systems. 
9. VA Investigating Whether Employees Snooped Through Suspected Serial Killer’s Records. 
10. Shelter On Campus Of Menlo Park VA Still Looking For New Home.

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HAVE YOU HEARD?
VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System is reaching out to Veterans to make sure they are aware of the benefits they have earned. By going to places and events where Veterans of all ages are – shopping malls, Toby Keith concerts and Ultimate Cage Fighting Challenges. Staff from eligibility, the women’s clinic, and the OEF/OIF clinic are able to speak to Veterans who may not have sought out VA care. One woman Veteran told an outreach coordinator, “I’m in pain every day, but I didn’t know I would be eligible.”

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1.      Fraud, Abuse Found In Contracts Designated For Service-Disabled Veterans. The Miami Herald (11/25, Wyss, 210K) reports, "Millions of dollars worth of government contracts designated for service-disabled veterans are being siphoned off by fraud and abuse, according to a recent government report. In a case-study of 10 firms, including one Florida company, the Government Accountability Office found ineligible companies had won about $100 million worth of contracts earmarked for service-disabled veteran-owned companies." Among the "problems identified by the report: The government has no process to validate a firm’s eligibility for the program. While the Veterans’ administration is working on such a database, it is not used by other contracting agencies." 

2.      Senate Approves Increased IT Budget For VA. In continuing coverage, NextGov (11/24, Bender) reported, "The Senate has approved a $3.3 billion information technology budget for the Veterans Affairs Department for fiscal 2010." In fiscal 2009, the budget was "$2.5 billion. … Most" of that 25 percent increase in budget funds "will go toward supporting existing programs, although the bill stipulates funds will not be made available until a comprehensive review of programs has been conducted and either the chief information office or the VA secretary has submitted a certification letter to Congress." 

3.      Hospital Administrator: Bidding Process On VA Clinic Was Unfair. In continuing coverage, the Syracuse (NY) Post-Standard (11/25, Mulder) reports Carthage Area Hospital, a North Country facility, "is crying foul after losing a contract to operate an outpatient clinic" for the Syracuse Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Carthage, "which has operated the clinic since 2003, learned last week it has been stripped of the contract by the VA, which is giving it to Valor Healthcare Inc." of Washington, DC. Walter Becker, the "hospital’s
administrator, contends Carthage submitted the low bid and that the bidding process was unfair. At his request," US Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Bill Owens, all Democrats, "are sending a joint letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, asking him to review the bidding process."
     Officials Meet To Discuss Covering Veterans Healthcare During Uncontracted Period. The Watertown (NY) Daily Times (11/25, Richards, 26K) reports, "Officials from Carthage Area Hospital" and the Syracuse VAMC were to meet Tuesday "to try to forge an agreement for the hospital to continue operations at its outpatient VA clinic in Carthage from Dec. 1 through Feb. 14. Currently, no contract ensures" that healthcare "services for veterans will continue in Jefferson County during that period, the gap between when the Carthage hospital’s contract for the clinic runs out and the start date of services at a new clinic, slated to open Feb. 15 in Watertown. That clinic will be operated by Valor Healthcare Inc., a national company, at the CANI building, 19472 Route 11."  

4.      In 2009, US Military Suicides Outnumber Those Killed In Iraq, Afghanistan. CQ (11/25, Donnelly) reports, "More US military personnel have taken their own lives so far in 2009 than have been killed in either the Afghanistan or Iraq wars this year, according to a Congressional Quarterly compilation of the latest statistics from the armed services. As of Tuesday, at least 334 members of the military services have committed suicide in 2009, compared with 297 killed in Afghanistan and 144 who died in Iraq, the figures show." The "total number who have killed themselves in 2009 is probably higher than 334," however, "because the figure does not include unavailable suicide statistics for 2009 for Marine Corps reservists or veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who have left the service. The veterans’ numbers, in particular, could yet swell the totals considerably. The Department of Veterans Affairs said an average of 53 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans committed suicide each year between" the years 2002 and 2006. CQ says that "number only includes suicides among the quarter of all veterans who use the VA’s health system."  

5.      During Training, Police Officers Learn About Stresses Faced By Returning Vets. The York (ME) Weekly (11/24, McDermott) reported, "Some 22 people, including officers from a number of York County police departments, sheriff’s deputies and state police troopers, gathered" last week "at the American Legion post in York for training offered by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Maine chapter. The five-day, 40-hour training was organized by the York Police Department, which sent a number of officers to the training and now has nine officers and a dispatcher who have been through the program." The Weekly notes that during last week’s training, a "counselor from the Sanford Vet Center in Springvale spoke about the very real stresses faced by veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan."  

6.      Legion Post Treats VA Patients To Thanksgiving Lunch. The Westchester (NY) Journal News (11/25, Liebson) reports, "Thanksgiving came early for a group of psychiatric patients from the Montrose
Veterans Administration hospital as they were treated to a home-cooked turkey lunch with all the trimmings today, courtesy of White Plains American Legion Post-5. The annual luncheon, held at the post for more than 40 years, ‘is just something we like to do for our less fortunate veterans,’ said" Vietnam vet "Joe Waldron, the post commander." 

 7.      Korean War Memorial Dedicated At Cemetery In California. The Anderson Valley (CA) Post (11/25, Winship, 10K) reports, "The Korean War Veterans Association, Northern California Chapter #1, dedicated a Korean War memorial at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, at the Northern California Veterans Cemetery" in Igo, California. According to the Post, "More than 200 people attended the nearly two-hour ceremony under sunlit, cloudless skies with fresh snow capping the surrounding hilltops, causing some Korean War Veterans and South Korean-born Americans to compare the south Shasta County scenery with South Korea."  

8.      VA, Kaiser To Link Electronic Medical Record Systems. The lead story in the San Diego Union-Tribune‘s (11/25, Darcé) "Short Takes" column reports, "A pilot program linking two of the largest electronic medical record systems in the country will be launched in San Diego County in mid-December by Kaiser Permanente" and the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Officials "with both organizations planned to announce the effort" On Wednesday. The Union-Tribune adds, "Though President Barack Obama has set 2014 as a deadline for creating a national electronic medical record network, little progress has been made toward that goal" for various reasons, including the "challenge of getting different software systems to communicate with each other. Efforts to integrate the Kaiser and VA records could serve as a model for linking other systems."  

9.      VA Investigating Whether Employees Snooped Through Suspected Serial Killer’s Records. In continuing coverage, the AP (11/25) reports the Veterans Affairs hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, "is investigating whether employees snooped through the private medical records" of Anthony Sowell, a "suspected serial killer." Ashley Trimble, "a spokeswoman for the VA in Cleveland, confirmed the investigation Tuesday but said she could not comment on how the investigation would be conducted, what prompted it or whether…Sowell was treated at the VA." The WEWS-TV Cleveland, OH (11/24) website published a similar story, while similar reports were aired by WSYX-TV (11/24, 6:06 p.m. ET) and WBNS-TV (11/24, 12:07 p.m. ET) in Columbus, Ohio. 

10.    Shelter On Campus Of Menlo Park VA Still Looking For New Home. California’s The Almanac (11/25) reports, "The 60-bed Clara Mateo shelter on the campus of the Menlo Park Veterans Affairs hospital is still looking for a new home. The shelter is scheduled to be demolished in December 2010 as the VA continues a renovation project, according to Christine Burroughs, CEO of InnVision, which operates the facility. ‘To find another shelter, it takes time,’" Burroughs "said. ‘We are hoping that folks that maybe have a connection to property near that area, in the north end of Palo Alto and Menlo Park, would come forward and possibly help us pull together the resources to make this work.’ The shelter downgraded to 60 beds from about 100 in late 2008, when donations dried up as the stock market headed south."