Shineski Writes to Vets

An Open Letter to Veterans From Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki 03/14/09. The link is to a letter from the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K Shinseki. VA

DoD on TBI Myths

Military Looks to Dispel Myths, Advance Treatment for Brain Injuries 03/12/09. ...contrary to popular misconceptions, these physical injuries will heal, said Army Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Loree K. Sutton, special assistant to the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs for psychological health and traumatic brain injury. “One of the myths out there is that mild traumatic brain injuries, or concussions, means that somehow your brain is broken forever. No, it's an injury,” said Sutton, who also is director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. Military Health System

VAOIG Audit of Claim Rating Accuracy

Audit of Veterans Benefits Administration Compensation Rating Accuracy and Consistency Reviews 03/12/09. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit to evaluate selected aspects of the Veterans Benefits Administration’s (VBA) quality assurance program. The objectives for this audit were to determine whether: (1) the Systematic Technical Accuracy Review (STAR) process effectively identified and reported errors in compensation rating decisions and (2) VBA’s rating consistency reviews ensured that rating claims for similar conditions received the same evaluations and benefits, regardless of which VA regional office’s staff completed the rating decision. VAOIG

VAOIG Review of Nashville VA

Combined Assessment Program Review of the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System Nashville, Tennessee 03/12/09. The purpose of this review was to evaluate selected operations, focusing on patient care administration and quality management (QM). During the review, we also provided fraud and integrity awareness briefings to 158 employees. This review focused on eight operational activities. The system complied with selected standards in the following five activities: (1) coordination of care, (2) environment of care, (3) pharmacy operations, (4) staffing, and (5) survey of healthcare experiences of patients. We made recommendations for improvements in the following three activities: QM. Emergency/urgent care operations. Medication management. VAOIG

DoD, VA Shared Medical Records

Defense, VA to launch shared e-record system to handle medical benefits 03/12/09. The Veterans Affairs and Defense departments have started work on a uniform registration system that will enroll all service members in the VA upon entry into the military, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said at a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing this week. Nextgov

Fear

Can Fearful Memories be Erased? Audio from Talk of the Nation, March 13, 2009 Scientists studying how the brain forms memories have found that by targeting brain cells expressing a certain gene in mice, they can erase a fearful memory association days after the event. Steven Kushner and colleagues describe the research in the journal Science. NPR

The genetics of fear: Study suggests specific genetic variations contribute to anxiety disorders 03/11/09. A new study suggests that individuals with specific polymorphisms may be more susceptible to anxiety disorders by being more prone to developing fear and being less likely to overcome that fear by common cognitive behavioral treatments which are based on the extinction principle. Association for Psychological Science via Eurekalert!

An end to fear 03/11/09. A team of Dutch researchers under the leadership of Vici-winner Merel Kindt has successfully reduced the fear response. They weakened fear memories in human volunteers by administering the beta-blocker propranolol. Interestingly, the fear response does not return over the course of time. Top journal Nature Neuroscience published the findings on February 15, 2009. Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research via Eurekalert!

Increase in Marine Suicides

Corps Sees Dramatic Spike in Suicides 03/11/09. While the Army fights a high-profile battle against suicides, the Marine Corps is quietly upping its effort to combat the malaise following the worst year for suicides in more than a decade. Forty-one Marines committed suicide in 2008, while another 146 tried but failed. Military.com

Veterans Groups Oppose 2010 Budget Proposal

Veterans Groups Protest Proposed Change in Coverage for Injuries, Conditions Related to Military Service 03/10/09. Several veterans groups "are lashing out" at the Obama administration over a policy proposal they say would "dramatically alter" how the Department of Veterans Affairs handles health insurance claims for veterans, The Hill reports. Under the policy, which is included in President Obama's fiscal year 2010 budget proposal, VA would bill health insurers for treatment of injuries and conditions sustained as a result of veterans' military service. Currently, VA covers those costs and bills health insurers only for treatment for conditions unrelated to veterans' military service. KaiserNetwork.org

Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act

Disabled Veterans Leader Presses Issues with Key Lawmakers 03/09/09. The National Commander of the Disabled American Veterans begins a series of meetings with key lawmakers seeking their support for budget reform legislation to ensure sufficient, timely and predictable funding for veterans' health care. He also is urging them to reject a contentious proposal that would shift the cost of treating veterans for service-connected conditions from the government's side of the ledger to insurance companies. PR Newswire

Timing of Mental Disorders Post-Deployment

Relationships between the nature and timing of mental disorders before and after deploying to Iraq/Afghanistan, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2002-2008 03/09/09. Th is report describes the natures and frequencies of mental disorder-related medical encounters of active
component U.S. service members before and after their fi rst deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq. In addition, the report assesses relationships between natures and timing of predeployment and postdeployment mental disorder-related medical encounters. Th e findings may inform policies and practices regarding predeployment medical assessments of future deploying service members. AFHSC

An Unorthodox PTSD Treatment (Not To Be Tried At Home)

Ecstasy could help patients with post-traumatic stress disorder 03/09/09. Ecstasy may help suffers of post-traumatic stress learn to deal with their memories more effectively by encouraging a feeling of safety, according to an article in the Journal of Psychopharmacology published today by SAGE. They suggest three possible biological reasons why ecstasy could help individuals with PSTD. SAGE Publications UK via Eurekalert!

Mild TBI in the Warfighter

Most Service Members With Brain Injury Heal, Official Says 03/07/09. Mild traumatic brain injury, also known as a concussion, affects from 10 to 20 percent of service members returning from combat deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan. During a roundtable discussion at the Pentagon yesterday as part of "Brain Injury Awareness Month," Army Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Loree K. Sutton, director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, said more than 90 percent of servicemembers with TBI have concussions and recover quickly. Military Health System

Second Chance for Vets

Therapeutic Court for Veterans 03/05/09. A program spreading across the country is giving veterans charged with non-violent alcohol or drug-related offenses a second chance to get their lives back on track. VA

VA Claims Backlogs, Reimbursement for Nursing Home Care

Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Promises To Reduce Disability Claims Backlog; VA To Reimburse Certain Veterans for Nursing Home Care 03/05/09. Summaries of two recent developments related to health care for veterans appear below. KaiserNetwork.org

• Disability claims: Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki on Tuesday during a speech to the American Legion said that he has "taken on the issue of the backlog" of disability claims at VA but admitted that he does not understand the problem, CongressDaily reports. He said that he has begun to develop "a credible 2010 budget" for VA, adding that the current economic recession "will likely collide with the new demands," such as treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury among veterans. Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), a member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) and Senate Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) also spoke at the conference and cited the need to reduce the backlog and improve treatment of PTSD and TBI (Kreisher, CongressDaily, 3/3).
  
  
• Nursing home care: VA officials recently sent letters to 137 state veterans nursing homes nationwide to announce plans to begin the implementation of a 2006 law that requires the department to reimburse certain veterans for the cost of care at such facilities, Long Island Newsday reports. Under the law, VA must reimburse veterans with a 70% or higher service-related disability for the full cost of care at such facilities. According to the letter, VA will begin to issue reimbursements under the law within 90 days (Evans, Long Island Newsday, 3/3).

VAOIG Inspection of Salt Lake City VA

Healthcare Inspection Alleged Continuity of Care Issues and Questionable Death Salt Lake City VA Medical Center, Salt Lake City, Utah 03/04/09. The purpose of this inspection was to determine the validity of allegations regarding failure to provide continuity of care for a patient and the questionable death of that patient at the Salt Lake City VA Medical Center, Salt Lake City, Utah. We substantiated that there was a disruption in continuity of care when the patient returned home from the first hospitalization. VAOIG