Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

From the VA:

Top 10 Veterans Stories in Today’s News

1.      More Vietnam Vets Getting Benefits For Diabetes Than Any Other Malady. The AP (8/31, Baker) reports, “Because of worries about Agent Orange, about 270,000 Vietnam veterans – more than one-quarter of the 1 million receiving disability checks — are getting compensation for diabetes, according to Department of Veterans Affairs records obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act.” After noting that more Vietnam vets are “being compensated for diabetes than for any other malady, including post-traumatic stress disorder, hearing loss or general wounds,” the AP adds, “Tens of thousands of other claims for common ailments of age…are getting paid as well because of a possible link, direct or indirect, to Agent Orange. And the taxpayers may soon be responsible for even more,” because on Monday, VA “said…it will add heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and certain types of leukemia to the list of conditions that might be connected to Agent Orange.”
     Rising Costs Lead To Questions About Whether Age Is Actually Causing Illnesses. According to Politico (8/30, Rogers, 25K), age and Agent Orange are “closing in on Vietnam veterans, a legacy of hurt for those who served — and a very big bill for American taxpayers.” The “frailties of men in their 60s — prostate cancer, diabetes, heart disease — lead the list of qualified Agent Orange disabilities, and the result has been an explosion in claims and the government’s liability,” one that will grow with an expansion of Agent Orange-related illnesses, approved by VA Secretary Eric Shinseki in October, that “adds ischemic heart disease and Parkinson’s and will cost at least $42 billion over the next 10 years.” But as “costs rise, so do the questions about the science involved,” particularly from US Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), who “wrote…a June letter to Shinseki challenging the secretary’s decision.” The Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot (8/31) runs the same story, while the Washington Post (8/31, O’Keefe) and UPI (8/31) publish similar ones.
     The Air Force Times (7/31, Maze) reports, “One of the new conditions — ischemic heart disease — is controversial because it widely affects older Americans, and has been linked to smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and aging.” Webb, a Vietnam vet who chairs the “Senate armed services subcommittee on personnel” and is a “member of the Senate veterans’ affairs committee, has questioned whether it is possible to know if Vietnam veterans with this form of heart disease have an Agent Orange-related condition or have other risk factors.”
     Government Executive (8/31, Long) says Shinseki’s decision to add the new conditions is “based on a 2008 study from the Institute of Medicine on health problems Agent Orange causes,” while the Reno (NV) Gazette-Journal (8/31, Clifton, 52K) reports that this week, the new regulations will be published in the Federal Register by VA. After noting that the regulations will “face a 60-day congressional review period before” they “can go into effect,” the Gazette-Journal quotes Joan Buckler, “patient benefits supervisor for the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System.,” who says the regulations will provide “much-needed support for our Vietnam veterans.”
     The third item for “On Deadline,” a USA Today (8/31, 2.11M) blog, says that on Tuesday, VA “will announce new guidelines for Agent Orange claims. About 150,000 Vietnam veterans are expected to apply for benefits,” while “90,000 others whose claims were rejected will get reviews.”
     VA Official Defends New Agent Orange Regulations. The “Federal Eye” blog for the Washington Post (8/31, O’Keefe) reports, “The changes could result in about $13 billion in benefits payments in the next year, VA Acting Undersecretary for Benefits Michael Walcoff said Saturday,” while addressing attendees at the American Legion National Convention. Walcoff, who stressed that there will be “very negative” newspaper articles written about how much money the changes will cost, told the attendees that he believes VA is “doing is the right thing” by making the changes.
     Vietnam Vet Pleased By New Regulations. The WCMH-TV Columbus, OH (8/30, Bowersock) website noted that when Vietnam vet Jeff Noble, a resident of Dublin, Ohio, discussed the changes, he “said this is a step in the right direction.” WCMH added, “Ninety thousand veterans have had their Agent Orange claims rejected. Those claims will be reviewed.” The WAGA-TV Atlanta, GA (8/30, Galvin) website also noted VA’s new Agent Orange regulations.

2.      Shinseki Keynote Speaker At TBI Conference. According to the final item for “The Caucus,” a New York Times (8/31, Lorber, 1.09M) blog, on Monday, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki was scheduled to “give the keynote address…at the Traumatic Brain Injury conference.” The conference was to take place “at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in the Woodley Park area of Washington.”

 3.      One Day Prior To Hearing From Shinseki, American Legion Announces Internet Plans. On its website, WISN-TV Milwaukee, WI (8/30) said the American Legion is “entering the digital age in order to better connect with its current members and to recruit new ones.” On Monday, the organization, which will hear from Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday when he addresses their national convention in Milwaukee, “announced that it will reach to current and prospective members via the Internet through blogs, Facebook and Twitter.”

4.      Alabama Governor To Share “Great News” About Fourth State Vets Home. The Talladega (AL) Daily Home (8/31, Heath, 10K) reports, “Citizens awaiting word on a potential Veterans Affairs Nursing Home in Pell City may not have to wait much longer,” because officials “from the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs said Gov. Bob Riley will be in Pell City Wednesday at 10 a.m. to conduct a news conference on the third floor of Jefferson State Community College in Pell City. The purpose of the conference, per the announcement, is to share ‘great news … about Alabama’s fourth state veterans home.'”

 5.      VA Helps Research Link Between Abnormal Fatty Deposits, Risk Of Heart Attack, Stroke. HealthDay (8/31) reports, “A number of factors put patients with abnormal fatty deposits in an artery at high risk for heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular death, a new study shows.” In an “analysis of more than 45,000 patients” with atherothrombosis, researchers from the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, “Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School” in Boston “found that patients…were at highest risk if they had a prior history of heart attack or other emergencies linked to an artery blockage.” The study “appears online and in the Sept. 22 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.”

 6.      VA Collaboration To Provide Federal Privacy Experience For The IHIE. In continuing coverage of a pilot project between the Veterans Affairs Department and the Indiana Health Information Exchange, Federal Computer Week (8/31, Lipowicz) reports that the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis will begin securing electronic transfer of patient medical data in an effort to “enable sharing of information for the large percentage of veterans who receive care from both the VA and private doctors and facilities.” In a news release, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki called the pilot program “one more step taken to deliver a Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record for our nation’s veterans and service members.”
     FierceHealthIT (8/31, Versel) also covers this story, as does Modern Healthcare (8/31, Conn) reports, “The 153-hospital, 768-clinic Veterans Health Administration also has clinical information-sharing tests under way in San Diego with the Defense Department and the integrated delivery network Kaiser Permanente and in the Hampton/Tidewater area of Virginia with the MedVirginia RHIO.” J. Marc Overhage, a physician and the president and CEO of the IHIE, assured that the VA would be employing “a face-to-face consent process with the patient” to confirm their participation with the IHIE pilot program.

 7.      DOD, VA Prioritizing Help For Sexual Assault Victims. The Army News Service (8/31, Collins) reports, “According to the Department of Defense Report on Sexual Assault in the Military, there were 2,516 unrestricted reports and 714 restricted reports of servicemember-related sexual assaults in fiscal year 2009. ” Meanwhile, Dr. Kate Chard, “director of the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Anxiety Disorders Division of the Cincinnati Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, estimated that about 15 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans seen at the VA are victims of military sexual trauma, or MST.” After noting that “DOD and Army policies regarding sexual assault…are top priorities for Army leaders,” the Army News Service quotes Chard, who stated, “We really want people to come forward and (get help) right away” for MST.

 8.      VA Hospital’s Rehab Center Teaching Survival Skills To Blind Vets. The Chicago Tribune (8/31, Healy, 534K) reports, “Since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom,” the Blind Rehabilitation Center at Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital “has hosted 65 members of the armed forces who served in Iraq and Afghanistan – more than any of the nine other VA blind centers across the country. Since 2005, the influx has more than doubled the number of blind or visually impaired 20- to 39-year-olds who stay for weeks at a time or longer to learn important survival skills, from operating a stove to walking unfamiliar streets.” The Tribune notes that Gerald Schutter, chief of the Hines Blind Rehabilitation Center, who said such survival skills give “individuals the self-esteem and confidence to take back their lives.”

9.      During Walter Reed Visit, Obama Meets Privately With Injured US Soldiers. The AP (9/1) reports, “President Barack Obama met privately Monday with more than two dozen” US soldiers wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan. The President’s “unannounced visit” to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center “came a day before” the US “marks a formal end to its combat operations in Iraq.” On Tuesday, Obama “will travel to Fort Bliss, Texas,” to “thank soldiers for their service in Iraq and then return to Washington to address the nation from the Oval Office,” a point also made by the New York Times (8/31, A9, Cooper, 1.09M), the Wall Street Journal (8/31, Weisman, Solomon), and the lead item for “On Deadline,” a USA Today (8/31, 2.11M) blog.
     The President’s Monday Walter Reed visit is also noted by AFP (8/31), the New York Post (8/31), and McClatchy (8/31, Talev, Lighhtman), which only briefly covers the visit, mentioning it at the end of a story focused on comments Obama made about politics and the economy while speaking at the Rose Garden on Monday. The “Political Ticker” blog for CNN (8/31, Henry) also briefly covers Obama’s Walter Reed visit.
     Soldier “Very Honored” To Receive Purple Heart From President. The Washington Post (8/31, Kornblut, 684K) says that when Obama visited Walter Reed on Monday, he “awarded 11 Purple Hearts to combat veterans.” One of those vets, according to the WZVN-TV Ft. Myers, FL (8/30) website, was Afghanistan vet Corey Kent, whose “family said on their Facebook page that ‘Corey was very honored'” by the President’s action.
     Kent is also discussed in a Cape Coral (FL) Daily Breeze (8/31, Winchester, 2K) article, which notes that city employees in Cape Coral recently “donated $3,200” to Kent’s family recently. After noting that Kent’s mother and stepfather “left their jobs to be with their son during his recovery efforts at Walter Reed,” the Daily Breeze adds, “Donations to the ‘Pfc. Corey A. Kent Family Assistance Fund’ can be made at any local Bank of America branch.”

 10.    More Parents Of Deceased US Soldiers Join Benefits Lawsuit Filed Against Prudential. The AP (8/31, Reitz) reports, “The parents of six deceased” US soldiers, including some who died in Iraq and Afghanistan, are “suing Prudential Financial, saying it paid paltry interest on military life insurance benefits while keeping more generous interest earnings for itself.” On Monday, five “plaintiffs joined the original plaintiff…in the lawsuit, which was filed in July” in US District Court. If the lawsuit is granted class-action status, it “could affect tens of thousands of beneficiaries.”
     Lawsuit Expanded To Include Claims Of Fraud. According to Bloomberg News (8/31, Van Voris), a lawsuit “accusing Prudential Insurance Co. of America of improperly collecting interest on unpaid veterans’ life-insurance benefits was expanded” Monday “to include claims of fraud.” The “case is Lucey v. Prudential Insurance Co. of America, 10-30163, US District Court, District of Massachusetts (Springfield).”