New VA Planned for Las Vegas

VA Awards Contract for New Las Vegas Medical Center 10/02/08. WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced a $364.9 million contract to help bring to reality years of planning for a new world-class medical facility in Las Vegas by September 2011. The project represents the largest construction contract ever awarded by VA. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

PTSD

Whether combat or peacekeeping, PTSD impacts veterans' well-being 10/01/08. Deployed peacekeeping veterans with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have significant impairments in health-related quality of life according to research by Dr. J. Donald Richardson of the University of Western Ontario and his co-investigators. The research, published this month in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, found anxiety disorders such as PTSD are associated with impaired emotional well-being, and this applies just as much to peacekeeping veterans as to combat veterans. University of Western Ontario via Eurekalert!

Helping Veterans to Receive Home Health Care

HHS Sends $36 Million to States to Help Alzheimer’s Patients, Seniors, Veterans Stay at Home 09/30/08. Sept. 29, 2008 - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced $36 million in new grant programs to 28 states to help older Americans and veterans remain independent and to support people with Alzheimer’s disease to remain in their homes and communities. Just over $19 million of this funding involves a new collaboration with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). SeniorJournal.com

VHA Audits

Audit of Procurements Using Prior-Year Funds To Maintain VA Healthcare Facilities 10/01/08. The audit identified unapproved and improper use of expired funds in at least 80 percent of Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) contracting activities nationwide amounting to a total of $16.4 million during fiscal year (FY) 2007. This widespread improper use of expired funds occurred primarily because of a lack of policy clarity and other weaknesses in internal controls. While VHA has taken steps to centralize the process to track and approve the use of prior-year funds, it needs to clarify relevant policies and further strengthen controls over these funds. In addition, appropriate administrative action is needed to address personnel who improperly awarded new contracts using expired appropriations. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General (VAOIG).

Audit of Veterans Health Administration Noncompetitive Clinical Sharing Agreements 09/30/08. VHA lacks reasonable assurance it received the services it paid for because performance monitoring controls over noncompetitive clinical sharing agreements are not effective. Strengthening controls over performance monitoring of noncompetitive clinical sharing agreements could save VHA about $9.5 million annually or $47.4 million over 5 years. Of the estimated savings, only about $96,000 in charges resulting from calculation errors may be recoverable because the terms of most of the sharing agreements we reviewed did not include provisions for adjusting payments. We found performance monitoring weaknesses for all 58 surgical and anesthesiology sharing agreements we reviewed at the 8 VAMCs. As a result, for 30 (52 percent) of the 58 agreements, VAMCs overpaid contractors because COTRs did not verify that VAMCs received the services required at the prices specified.

In addition to performance monitoring issues, we also found that during negotiations of per-procedure sharing agreements, VISN contracting officers agreed to pay at least full Medicare rates. However, the full Medicare rates include a practice component for overhead charges that contractors do not incur when they provide services at VAMCs. Excluding the Medicare practice component, as required by VA policy, could have saved VHA about $2.5 million annually or $12.4 million over 5 years.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General (VAOIG).

S2162

Senate Approves Amended Versions of Two Bills Related to Health Care for Veterans 09/29/08. The Senate on Saturday approved an amended version of a bill (S 2162) that would authorize programs designed to improve treatment for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses, CQ Today reports. The Senate passed the original version of the bill, sponsored by Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chair Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), in June. The House, which approved the legislation by voice vote on Thursday, amended the bill to include several additional provisions. The amended version of the legislation represents an agreement between Akaka and House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chair Bob Filner (D-Calif.). Kaisernetwork.org

VA Staffing Issues

Recruitment, retention bonuses soar 09/29/08. The Veterans Affairs Department is racing against the clock. It has to hire a new generation of nurses to learn from the experienced nurses before they retire or take higher paying jobs in the private sector. FederalTimes.com

Prosthesis Advances

Prosthetics Changing Lives And Maybe The Future 09/29/08. Is it possible to become one of the fastest runners in the world when you are a double leg amputee? redOrbit

VA's Computerized Patient Record System

Tapping into Technology 09/29/08. Physicians and pharmacist already know your medical history on arrival to the VA thanks to a fine tuned electronic system of medical records system found in 1,400 clinics and hospitals in the VA system. Billings Gazette via redOrbit

Coping With PTSD in Relationships

Two Projects Target Relationship Aggression Among People with PTSD 09/29/08. University of Arkansas psychologist Matthew T. Feldner is part of two national research projects aimed at preventing relationship aggression in couples coping with PTSD and treating this type of aggression when it has already developed. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville via Newswise

HR2638

Capitol Hill Watch | House Passes More Than $630B Continuing Resolution 09/25/08. The House on Wednesday voted 370-58 to approve a more than $630 billion continuing resolution (HR 2638) that would fund at current levels the budgets of most Cabinet departments and federal agencies until March 6, 2009, the New York Times reports (Hulse/Pear, New York Times, 9/25). The CR also includes the fiscal year 2009 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs appropriations bill and two other FY 2009 spending bills (Taylor, AP/Houston Chronicle, 9/24). Kaisernetwork.org

Electronic Health Records

Defense to re-engineer electronic health record system 09/24/08. The Defense Department has laid the groundwork for a radical shift in the way it processes and stores soldiers’ and veterans’ electronic health records, planning to re-engineer a system a network it spent $6 billion and eight years developing in-house for one based on industry standards, commercial software and re-use of existing code that will serve Defense and the Veterans Affairs Department, top officials told Nextgov

Veterans with ALS

VA To Provide Full Benefits for All Veterans With ALS 09/24/08. The Department of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday announced that all veterans with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, will receive full disability, lifetime health and death benefits, a move that effectively acknowledges a general link between the condition and military service, the New York Times reports. According to VA, all veterans with ALS will qualify for disability benefits, regardless of when or where they served. Kaisernetwork

Mild TBI Rate Increase

VA To Increase Benefits for Veterans With Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries 09/23/08. The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday announced it will substantially increase disability benefits for veterans with mild traumatic brain injuries, USA Today reports. Compensation payments now will be as much as $600 per month, compared with the $117 veterans with symptoms including headaches, dizziness, sensitivity to light, ringing in the ears, irritability and insomnia currently receive. The new payments, which will begin in 30 days, will affect between 3,500 and 5,000 veterans annually. VA estimates the added benefits will cost an additional $120 million through 2017. Kaisernetwork.org

Veterans Journal

GSA steering contract work to disabled vets’ businesses 09/22/08. The Veterans Entrepreneurship Task Force (VET-Force) recently became the first veterans group to sign an agreement with the General Services Administration to bolster the federal agency’s efforts to spend 3 percent of its procurement dollars on companies owned by service-disabled veterans. Veterans Journal via Projo.com

Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development

Volume 45, Number 5, 2008 09/22/08. Cochlear Implants Single-Topic Issue. JRRD