Veterans Affairs changes urged

The Department of Veterans Affairs needs to overhaul its system for evaluating and rating veterans for disabilities because some aspects of the program are so outdated they don’t reflect current medical knowledge of conditions such as brain injuries, according to a report Thursday by an independent panel.

The report by the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, found that some procedures for assessing veterans’ disabilities had not been changed since 1945, and most of the examination worksheets used to determine ratings are based on criteria from 10 years ago.

A chart in the report shows that Nevada is one of the five lowest states for overall accuracy of disability decisions.

The study was conducted for the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission, which was established in the 2004 National Defense Authorization Act.

Veterans who have a service-connected disability can receive monthly payments of between $115 per month for a 10 percent rating to $2,471 for a 100 percent rating.

In a statement announcing the report, panel chairman Lonnie Bristow said, “With troops being injured nearly every day, the VA’s system for evaluating and rating former service members’ disabilities should be as up to date as possible with current medical knowledge of impairment and its effects on a person’s functioning and quality of life.

“Right now the rating schedule is out of sync with modern medicine and modern concepts of disability,” said Bristow, former president of the American Medical Association. “The report details ways the agency can more successfully carry out the goals of veterans benefits programs, which were created to recognize the nation’s debt to those who serve and compensate them for their sacrifices.”

The report found problems with how a veterans medical records are compiled with discrepancies among the awards and VA review boards in different states.

The panel suggested that the Department of Veterans Affairs “immediately undertake a comprehensive revision of the rating schedule beginning with those conditions that have not been reviewed within the last decade.”

Another recommendation calls for VA raters to have “ready access to qualified health care experts who can provide advice on medical and psychological issues that arise during the rating process.”