Noteboom The Law Firm

Coordinator Program Lacking Due To Poor Communication

March 25, 2011 - A recently created program focuses on coordinating long-term to life-long care for veterans severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although there are plenty of candidates for the program, many of them may not know of its existence because of a lack of real communication between the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Pentagon, according a recent study done by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

According to the GAO report, the program suffers in part from the VA and the Pentagon failing to establish distinct classifications for severely wounded, ill, and injured soldiers. The coordination program supplies social workers and nurses to assist veterans through the mass of red tape that encompasses receiving follow-up care, therapy, and disability evaluations.

The coordinator jobs were first developed in 2008 to ensure wounded veterans and soldiers were not lost in the system, which was a solid first step. Unfortunately, since then the government has failed to create any solid procedure for identifying and tagging those suffering from the worst wounds so as to bring them into the coordinator program.

Without eligible patients, there is no program. To date, the candidates in the coordination program have been enrolled based on referrals, which have come primarily from other health care programs and military hospitals. The amount of referrals has jumped from 25 per month in 2008 to 50 per month in 2010.

Better communication between the VA and the Pentagon resulting in lucid criteria for the program would result in more help for more injured soldiers. Once the criteria are established, the VA will know how many case coordinators it will need to maximize help for the enrolled soldiers. Once the number of needed case coordinators is established, the VA will be able to get them their necessary equipment, resulting in the best possible care for the injured veterans.