The Seattle VA

A pilot program designed to reduce waiting time for veterans’ disability claims will expand to Fort Lewis and five other installations, the Pentagon announced Monday.

The Disability Evaluation System aligns the filing processes for claims in the medical systems of the Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

It takes about five months to complete a claim at the Seattle VA Regional Office, external affairs manager Rob Hard said, but the new program should lead to new claims being "completed at, or very close to, the service member's date of discharge from military service."

The expansion at Fort Lewis is expected to begin in January and be running by March 31.

Among the improvements will be a single disability rating that both the military and VA will use. That rating, which is determined by a variety of factors like medical records and the type of injuries the service member is claiming, determines what sorts of compensation, eligibility to VA health care, vocational rehabilitation and other services are available. State and federal agencies often use the rating during hiring processes.

The expansion at Fort Lewis is expected to begin in January and be running by March 31.

Under the current system, a medical examination board evaluates the extent of the wounds of a service member as he or she is leaving the service. The service member is again evaluated – this time by the VA – after leaving the military.

In a release, the Pentagon called the differences in the two systems "duplicative, time-consuming, and often confusing."

And the situation is frustrating for many veterans. The VA has added thousands of staffers nationwide in recent years to cope with the influx of mounting disability claims – many related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – but the waiting time hasn’t budged much.

Two years ago, amid reports that veterans were waiting six months for processing, Sen. Patty Murray called the situation "absolutely unacceptable."

"People are waiting for their benefit checks to pay the rent and put food on the table for their families," the Washington Democrat said at the time. "They are waiting at the mailbox and nothing comes."

But this week, Murray’s office hailed the program as an "important step toward bringing our disability rating system into the 21st century for wounded service members returning to Fort Lewis.

"Our service members not only deserve the benefits they’ve earned, they are also owed clarity and efficiency in delivering those benefits," said Murray, usually a sharp critic of the VA. "This pilot program moves us toward ending the repeated exams, confusing requirements, and red tape that have caused our service members and their families so much grief."

The program began in November 2007 at three installations near Washington, D.C and expanded to 18 other sites in October 2008.

It stemmed from the recommendations from four commissions and was funded through the Defense Authorization Act of 2008. More than 5,400 service members have participated in the pilot since it launched.

The other installations included in Monday’s announcement were Fort Benning, Ga.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Riley, Kan.; and Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, Va.

Categories: Fort Lewis
Tags: Fort Lewis, veterans