Sustained leadership attention and systematic oversight are needed to resolve persistent problems affecting the care and benefits of recovering service-members and veterans, GAO has said.
It said deficiencies exposed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2007 prompted the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to address a host of problems for wounded, ill, and injured service-members and veterans as they navigate through the recovery care continuum, but five years later they are still facing problems and may not be getting the services they need.
Key departmental efforts included the creation or modification of various care coordination and case management programs, including the military services’ wounded warrior programs, but according to GAO-13-5, these programs are not always accessible due to inconsistent eligibility criteria.
Further, while the departments also jointly established an integrated disability evaluation system to expedite the delivery of benefits to service-members, processing times for disability determinations under the new system have increased since 2007, resulting in lengthy wait times that limit service-members’ ability to plan for their future, GAO said.
DoD partially concurred with a recommendation for central oversight of the wounded warrior programs, citing issues with common eligibility criteria and systematic monitoring, although both departments agreed with the need for sustained leadership attention.
