Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s New

From the VA:

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s New

1.      Baker: Accountability System Allows VA To Make Successful IT Investments. NextGov (9/21, Sternstein) reports “several agency” chief information officers (CIOs) “say they were taking steps to hold themselves accountable to taxpayers, even before President Obama reminded them of their civic duty last week,” sending them a “message requesting they boost productivity by accomplishing a set of goals federal Chief Performance Officer Jeffrey Zients outlined in a supplemental memo.” After noting that goals in the supplemental memo include “cutting waste,” NextGov points out that VA CIO Roger Baker “said VA’s top officials…have shown an ongoing commitment to ensuring IT investments are not squandered” by instituting the project management accountability system (PMAS), which, according to NextGov, was initiated by Baker and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. In an “interview, Baker said he has metrics proving PMAS is effective that he will reveal to senators the first week of October.”

 2.      Measure Cleared By Senate Would Expand Access To State Vets Homes. CQ (9/21, Lesniewski) notes that on Monday, the Senate “cleared legislation that would permit any parents of deceased military servicemembers access to state veterans homes.” The measure is “not expected to have any direct cost to the federal government, since it would require parents who seek admission to state veterans homes to pay out-of-pocket or through insurance.”

 3.      Burr Worried About Benefits Plan For Agent Orange-Exposed Vets With Heart Disease. The AP (9/21, Baker) notes that on Monday, US Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) “said…that he also has concerns about a proposal that would spend billions of dollars on disability compensation for Vietnam veterans who get heart disease.” Burr, the leading Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, “added his voice to leading Democrats on the committee who have reservations about the spending and plan to discuss the issue at a Capitol Hill hearing this week. Because of concerns about the defoliant Agent Orange, the Department of Veterans Affairs wants to allow tens of thousands of Vietnam veterans to get compensation for heart disease, a common ailment for older adults.

 4.      VA Doctor Authors Study On Shortcomings Of Heart Attack Risk Calculator. The New York Times (9/21, D5, Rabin, 1.01M) reports, “A new study finds that a widely used version of the ubiquitous heart attack risk calculator is flawed, misclassifying 15 percent of patients who would use it – almost six million Americans, of whom almost four million are inappropriately shifted into higher-risk groups that are more likely to be treated with medication. And while the tool is easy to use, the authors say, the original calculator on which it is based is equally user-friendly for anyone with a computer – and significantly more reliable.” The senior author of the study, which was “published last month in The Journal of General Internal Medicine,” is Dr. Michael Steinman, an “associate professor of medicine at San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center.”

 5.      US Army Spokesman Offers Details On Problems At Three Arlington Grave Sites. In continuing coverage, a front page story in the Washington Post (9/21, A1, Davenport, 605K) reports, “The mystery of missing bodies” at Arlington National Cemetery, the “nation’s most hallowed military burial” ground, “keeps getting more troubling.” After confirming last week that bodies had been buried in the wrong places at Arlington, US Army spokesman Gary Tallman on Monday “painted a more detailed picture of the situation affecting three grave sites at the cemetery.” The Post, after noting that one site “had a headstone but no remains,” one “contained a body but the wrong headstone,” and one “held two sets of remains, only one of which matched the headstone,” adds, “The mix-ups are the clearest evidence yet that the cemetery’s record-keeping problems, which were revealed in an Army inspector general’s report released in June, have led to people being buried in the wrong places.”

 6.      National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic Underway. The American Forces Press Service (9/21, Bates) reports, “The third annual National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic began” in San Diego on Monday, when “more than 200 disabled veterans came out to participate in a number of activities, including surfing, kayaking, cycling, and track and field events. The week-long clinic gives veterans with disabilities an opportunity for self development and promotes rehabilitation through the use of summer sporting activities.” The websites for KPBS-TV San Diego, CA (9/20) and KGTV-TV San Diego, CA (9/20) also took note of the clinic.

 7.      Report Criticizes VA’s Oversight Of Stimulus Funding. Federal Computer Week (9/21, Lipowicz, 90K) reports, “The Veterans Health Administration is falling short on oversight of $1 billion in economic stimulus funding for modernization, maintenance and energy projects at veterans hospitals, according to a new report” from the agency’s Office of Inspector General (IG). The IG “recommended that the VA’s undersecretary for health improve the contractor responsibility determinations and stimulus law clauses, and the Office of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction develop policies and procedures for evaluating contractors’ past performance. VA management agreed with the findings and recommendations, according to the report.”

 8.      Wilson Touts Benefits Of New GI Bill. WOOD-TV Grand Rapids, MI (9/17, 5:17 p.m. ET) broadcast that the Department of Veterans is “spreading the word about the new GI Bill,” which provides “big help” to post-9/11 veterans attending college. Keith Wilson, who is “in charge of education service” at VA, told WOOD that the new GI Bill “basically covers college costs, in their entirety. We’re talking about free college.”

 9.      Hefner VAMC To Welcome Vets Home From Iraq, Afghanistan. The Salisbury (NC) Post (9/21, 21K) reports the Hefner Veterans Affairs Medical Center “is celebrating those who served” in Iraq and Afghanistan “with a welcome-home event this weekend for veterans and their families. ” The event will be held “Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the social room of Building No. 6” at the hospital.

10.    St. Cloud VAMC To Host Discussion Coping With The Challenges Of War. The St. Cloud (MN) Times (9/21) says the St. Cloud Veterans Affairs Medical Center “is hosting a discussion this week about coping with the challenges of war. The VA’s Operations Enduring & Iraqi Freedom Program Office will host guest speaker Chaplain John Morris,” who “will provide information on how military families can grow through the challenges of war and the five principles for growth. Morris will speak from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday at the St. Cloud Public Library’s Mississippi Room.”