In cspans sundays at eight. Now available at your favorite bookseller. Cspan, created by americas Cable Companies 35 years ago and brought to you as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. At noon on cspan, the only russian lawmaker to vote against russias annex sakes of crimea will be speaking at the Heritage Foundation in washington, d. C. About russia politics, the russia very you Russia Ukraine conflict and u. S. russian relations. You can watch that at 12 p. M. Eastern on cspan. The House Veterans Affairs subcommittee held a hearing addressing the benefits claims backlog and veterans making the transition to civilian life. This is about two hours and 20 minutes. Good afternoon and welcome, everyone. The oversight hearing of the subcommittee on disabilities and Memorial Affairs will now come to order. Todays hearing will focus upon vas role in the transition from Service Member to veteran with a particular focus on the integrated Disability Evaluation System commonly known as ides. As well as the benefits delivery discharge and quick Start Programs, we will seek information on va resources and production as well as timeless quality of vas components in the process. Further, i would like to, i would like to hear today about the quality of communication both within transitioning Service Members as well as between the department of defense and the department of Veterans Affairs in this process. First to address ides, while i understand that timelines are improving, we want to start off by making it clear that why this is, why this continuing while this continuing improvement matters, i frequently am contacted by Service Members who are frustrated with the process. They do not know how long its going the take, then when they will get answers, and they dont know when they can make plans for their future. I understand that dod reports quite High Satisfaction from Service Members undergoing ides, but it does not reflect the stories recently shared with me. Ive also gotten the sense that the ides process may not be a top priority to va because va has chosen to place what it seems to be fairly exclusive service on eliminating the backlog of claim toss the detriment of these transitioning Service Members. So lets begin understanding that if this belief exists at va, it is not okay. These transitioning Service Members have served in recent years during a decadeplus of wars in iraq and afghanistan with many, with multiple deployments and many with serviceconnected injuries that prevent their continued military service. Here i have correspondence from the past couple of months received from soldiers who are awaiting the start of their postmilitary lives, one soldier frustrated with his inability to pay for the future. To plan for the future. He wrote and i quote it has been four years since i have shared a christmas with my family. It would mean the world if i could finally spend christmas with them this year. I have gone through the board processes and am currently awaiting ratings. End quote. Another reads, quote i have been awaiting my rating for a long time now. Ive also been trying to contact my va reps, and the only way i can talk to them is if i go down to their office. I call and call and leave messages and emails but never get anything back unless im in their office. This entire waiting game has been putting me on, putting a very big strain on my family, and ive been trying to convince my family that it is going to come any day now. Well, it hasnt, and now my life now my wife wants to get a divorce. I dont know what i would do without my two daughters and my wife. If there is anything you can do to help me out or get me some information, that would be great, end quote. And another infantryman wrote, quote im losing my mind trying to find out why it is taking my rating so long to come back from the va. I honestly wouldnt reach out if it werent very important, but ive been under so much stress lately that my Blood Pressure has shot through the roof, my whole med board process has been putting me through hell. More so than my trip to afghanistan in 2009. If there is anything you could do to assist me in figuring out what it takes, what has taken the va so long to rate me and possibly expedite the process, i would forever be grateful, end quote. These pleas are for assistance and disgusting, and we must do better. Todays hearing is entitled defineed expectations evaluating the vas performance in Service Member transition process, and if nothing else, i want that to be the takeaway, defined expectations. These men and women have served honorably during a very difficult time in the military. At the very least, they deserve an open line of communication and deserve reasonable, defined expectations as their timelines, their futures, their transition to the civilian world. More must be done to define expectations. In addition to the ides updates at the forefront of todays hearing, we will also seek information on the process including the uses of brokering as well as timelines and accuracy of the benefits delivery discharge and quick Start Programs. We will hear about the vas anticipated new predischarge program which may consolidate the existing bdd and quick Start Programs. I look forward to hearing from todays witnesses, and with that, i will begin introductions. Seated at the witness table we have all members from the first panel. From the d. Of defense, we have ms. Nancy weaver, Deputy Assistant secretary of defense, warrior care policy who is accompanied by mr. Dave bowen, director of Health Information technology, Defense Health agency. And from the department of Veterans Affairs, we have mrs. Diana reubens, deputy undersecretary for Field Operations with the benefits administration who is accompanied by mr. Thomas murphy, director of compensation services. Upon conclusion of the first panel, we will seat two subsequent panels which include for panel two ms. Linda holiday, the assistant Inspector General for audits and evaluations for the office of the Inspector Generals u. S. Department of Veterans Affairs accompanied by ms. Nora stokes, director of the benefits and inspections division. And mr. Roman d around moan figuera, project manager with the inspections division. Panel three will consist of mr. Eric jenkins who is here in representation of the american ped ration of Government Federation of Government Employees and Afge National va council. Ms. Deborah gipson is here today and she will be introduced shortly by our congressman orourke. Mr. Gerardo avila, national medpeb representative with the American Legion, and mr. Paul v. A. Lair row, the assistant National Legislative director with disabled american veterans, and mr. Brendon gehrke, senior veteran associate with veterans of foreign wars of the United States. One final point, all of the named witnesses are present. I must advise pursuant to title 18 United States code section 1001, known as the false statement act, this is a crime to knowingly give false statements in federal jurisdiction including a congressional hearing. With that acknowledgment, i thank you all for being with us today. I now yield to Ranking Member, ms. Titus, for her Opening Statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding this hearing today. Thank all of you for coming to provide us with some needed information. As you heard the chairman describe, today were going to look into the performance of programs that va and dod utilize for determining fit for duty status for ill or injured Service Members as well as programs that are designed to expedite the adjudication of claims admitted by exiting Service Members. Particularly, were going to focus on the integrated Disability Evaluation System, the discharge program, bdd, and the quick Start Program. All of these programs have been up and running for a number of years. Ides was initiated in 2007 as a follow up to the poor conditions that were exposed at Walter Reed Army hospital. Bdd was launched back in 1995 as a Pilot Program and then became full hi operational in 1998 fully operational in 1998. The intent was to assist disabled Service Members in making a seamless and Successful Transition to civilian life by allowing them to get their claim completed as early as possible while they have all their medical information readily available. Quick start was launched in 2008, and its similar in nature to bdd, and it was established to provide a expedited disabilities benefit process to Service Members who are going to be discharged within 59 days. Now, despite having long been established and having enough time to get over growing pains and any other problems in the early stages, all of these programs continue to face challenges and are performing far below expectations. The one similarity that they seem to have is that they suffer from a continued poor performance in the adjudication of the claims in each of the three programs. Of particular interest to me is a number of claims under bdd and quick start that has dropped off. There are many fewer claims now than there used to be, and im concerned that the reason for that is because Service Members are choosing to bypass these programs that are designed to provide an expedited system over concerns that participation actually delays the process of receiving benefits. In fact, quick start has been known to be called quick start and slow finish as a result of that. Weve had highlighted for us by the vas oig about eliminating benefits backlog has kind of shifted priorities and come at the expense of other benefits and claims such as ides and quick start which have been moved to the back burner, and thats unfortunate. You heard the chairman read some of the emails that weve been receiving. They all generally have the same ask. Im in the army, im waiting waiting for a decision. My family and i need to get on with our lives. Our staff has witnessed firsthand the poor culture thats often present at these ides stations and Wounded Warrior battalions. I want to thank ms. Gipson who is an army veteran who recently went through the process and came to be with us today to talk about some of the negative culture thats in these programs and how we might address it. Its just a concern that these programs that are supposed to be so helpful really end up being harmful because they hold our Service Members lives in bureaucratic limbo. An Army Reservist who enters ides today wont complete the program until august 17, 2015, 181 days of this 443day period will be spent waiting for a va rater to pick up the claim and provide him or her with a rating. To get a rating just to get a rating, it takes that long. So as our Service Members wait for a rating decision, theyre forced to delay critical aspects of their transition. They and their spouses hesitate to relocate, to to buy a home, to enter a school program, to find a new job because they just dont know whats going to happen to em. Now, we know that Service Members face obstacles when theyre transitioning out of the armed services. Thats already difficult enough. The va should be an asset, not a hindrance to that process. So i think we need to take a hard look at the resources that we are dedicating to these programs and figure out how we can meet their goals today and not tomorrow. So we need to take a fresh look at these programs. We recently, i was with the staff who recently looked at this and found that 95 of Service Members who somewhere the ides program are found not to be fit to serve because of an illness or an injury, so they are they know theyre going to be discharged. 95 . If we know that many are not going to go back into the service that are going to be discharged, shouldnt we be taking a different approach, offering them some flexibility, some options while they are making that transition . So i hope that those are the kind of things that well look at today in this hearing and see if we cant reprioritize and shift some of our emphasis on being flexible and making this work as opposed to just having families sit around waiting for the rating. Thank you, and i yield back. Thank the gentlelady. With that, ill recognize the chairman of the full committee, mr. Miller, for a statement. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I appreciate the indulgence. I want to make a few remarks on the Service Member transition problem, process particularly in regards to ides. Currently, the timeline of ides induction to receipt of benefits is targeted not to exceed 295 days, but recent dod and va reports place the average timeline at over 350 days. Thats an average, but that average means that there are many Service Members that take much longer to complete. And in an effort to address ides inefficiencies, i recently introduced an amendment to the fy15 National Defense authorization act that would do the following first, it would require the use of a standardized form set which would be approved by both the secretaries of kod and va as dod and va as was envisioned by the dole commissioners recommendations. Second, it would colocate certain personnel to allow for greater or interdepartment collaboration and to reduce delays in transfers of information. Third, it would compel the usage of a bridging Software Solution between dods my ides and vas ebenefits dashboards to allow Service Members Greater Transparency as to where they are in the process at the current time. Finally, the amendment would establish a working group comprised of various personnel at dod and va as well as private Industry Leaders to reevaluate the program itself. Now, the working group would then make recommendations on how to better serve those who are going through this process as well as how to better utilize the resources that are allocated. I do want to take a moment to emphasize that the goals of my ides amendment are twofold. First, increase transparency to the Service Member and increased accountability for the respective departments. As i think everybody in this room is already aware, the issues of transparency and accountability are of utmost importance particularly as we continue to investigate the ongoing delays in accessing care at Va Health Care facilities across this great nation. Since the transition process whether through ides, bdd, quick start or the traditional claims process is a Service Members first exposure to the va system, we want to insure that it is a positive experience for all who use it and those that it was designed to serve. Those very people that have served our country. Mr. Chairman and to members of the committee, thank you for your indulgence, and i yield back my time. Thank the gentleman. And now i want to recognize mr. Orourke for, i believe, he has a statement, Opening Statement. Mr. Chairman, i just wanted to actually introduce someone whos going to be on one of the later panels, deborah gipson. Im sad to say, mr. Chairman, a former constituent of mine. She just moved out of el paso in march of this year. Were going to miss her. Prior to that, she was stationed at fort bliss, a former captain in the u. S. Army, and during her time as a commissioned officer she served as the executive officer for the warrior transition unit, Bravo Company at fort bliss, texas. She was medically separated from service through the integrated Disability Evaluation System or ides, and shes here today, again in a later panel, to deliver a statement about her experience with ides and offer recommendations to improve the system. Mr. Chairman, i just wanted to be here to welcome her and introduce her to the rest of this committee. With that, i yield back. Thank you. I dont believe any other members have a statement, so at this time i welcome our first panel. And your complete and written statements will be entered into the hearing record, and ms. Weaver, you are now recognized for five minutes. Thank you. Finish chairman runyon, Ranking Member titus and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss th