Noteboom The Law Firm

IDES Program Will Streamline Disability Determinations

March 25, 2011 - There is good news for injured soldiers applying for disability benefits. That good news is spelled Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES). IDES is a new program starting next month that will serve to streamline benefits for injured soldiers. The program is a coupling of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) services with those of the Department of Defense (DoD) because there is an overlapping of responsibilities.

When soldiers are injured and become disabled, there is usually no way of immediately telling if that disability is going to be short or long term. Often the severity of the injury is not initially apparent. When soldiers do become disabled, they must navigate through two distinct systems in order to receive benefits. IDES is where the systems overlap and the one place where the processes can be shortened.

Forcing the systems to work together for the soldiers' benefit will help streamline an overly complicated process. Under the new system, when the Army provides medical services to injured soldiers and cannot bring the soldier back up to Army standards, that soldier is discharged from the service and placed in the disability system. The IDES then subjects all injured soldiers to a single group of medical exams testing for both fitness and disability. This will result in a one VA disability rating.

The current process has soldiers' files being forwarded back and forth between different boards and agencies to get a disability rating, which is a huge waste of time and resources. Under the IDES process, the time it takes soldiers to be given disability ratings is significantly diminished.