Wounded Vets Face Red Tape, Confusion
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Severely wounded service members are sometimes facing more red tape and confusion as a result of reforms meant to streamline military health care.
The Washington Post reports that families, congressional overseers and veterans' advocates say efforts to better coordinate care for such troops have fallen short.
A federal commission recommended in 2007 that every single wounded service member be assigned a federal recovery coordinator to assist them. This followed reports that troops recovering from catastrophic wounds at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other facilities were getting lost in the military's system.
But the newspaper reports that at least a dozen Pentagon and Veteran Affairs Department programs have sprung up to coordinate care.
While a Government Accountability Office official says all of the programs and case managers may be hampering efforts to better manage care, Pentagon officials say they're ensuring that recovering troops get help.
Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
