As new system rolls out, wounded troops face delays in disability claims process
By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, May 18, 3:19 AM

WASHINGTON — A system designed to get wounded troops out of the military and
on disability compensation more quickly has failed recently to meet its
efficiency goals, delaying service members’ release sometimes more than a
year, documents show.

The lag has caused some of the troops to turn down job offers or postpone
college because they don’t know when they will be discharged from the
military.

The system is called the Integrated Disability Evaluation System. It started as
a pilot in 2007, but has since been rolled out to nearly 80 military
installations. By this fall, about 140 installations are expected to
participate. It works by consolidating the required medical exams and ratings,
so that a service member doesn’t have to go through the disability claims
process first in the military and then in the VA.

Congress pushed the system following the 2007 scandal over poor living
conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which highlighted the
complexities of the disabilities claims system. Some wounded veterans were left
in dire financial conditions as they waited for compensation from the VA.

The new program’s goal is to get troops through the system in a little more
than nine months on average. But March figures show it only met that goal about
15 percent of the time for active-duty troops, 28 percent for those in the
Reserves and 40 percent for the Guard, according to documents obtained by the
Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee and shared with The Associated Press.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA, chairwoman of the committee, said in a statement that
under the new system, it takes on average nearly 400 days to process a claim.

“All too often this time spent idle results in our men and women in uniform
falling through the cracks of the system,” said Murray, who is expected to
question defense and VA officials about the delays at a hearing before the
committee on Wednesday. “This IDES system was designed after the Walter Reed
scandal to improve a broken system, but at this point DoD and VA need to take a
hard look at improving it before expanding it further.”

Thirteen troops going through the new system have committed suicide or died from
drug overdoses, according to the records.

Despite the delays as the new system is rolled out, it appears that claims are
being processed faster than under the older “legacy” system. In a report
late last year, the Government Accountability Office said comparisons are
difficult, but that under one estimate under the older system, it took on
average 540 days.

The GAO noted problems with the new system such as insufficient staff, but
concluded that it shows promise and “service members who proceed through the
process are able to leave the military with greater financial security, since
they receive disability benefits from both agencies shortly after discharge.”

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