Noteboom The Law Firm

Pilot Program Making Medical Separations Easier

November 25, 2010 - The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) have joined forces once again and put out a pilot program aimed at changing medical separations from all services. The program will make medical separations much easier as well as speeding up the time in which veterans receive any earned benefit payments. The medical separation is used when a solider cannot remain in the service because they are too:

• Wounded;
• Sick; or
• Injured.

This program will not only help to speed up the disability system in general, it will make transitioning to the civilian world even faster. The Integrated Disability Evaluation System is the product of a coupling of the VA and the DoD. Currently, separating soldiers get physicals before they leave the service. Their final treatment is administered by local military medical clinics. Those veterans attempting to receive disability compensation must endure the exact same tests at VA clinics. Their disability determination will likely take months, and veterans need those results to seek VA disability benefits.

This new program combines all the above and puts the medical separation process in motion before the solider even leaves the service. All medical evaluations are done under VA standards by VA-certified doctors and the determination if the soldier can remain in the service will also be done then.

There are 27 bases using the pilot program, and the results have been very positive. Soldiers can now leave the service with their disability rating already established, which eliminates a lot of hassles for many post-separation veterans.