Where is the safety net for Wounded Warriors?

Remote care for wounded warriors raises concern
Army Times
Joe Gould
Staff Reporter
Apr. 24, 2014

“Of 27,000, you’re going to manage at least 20,000 in a remote manner, so how can we be assured you won’t have the same problem other services have had, or return to 10 years ago,” Stone said. “What’s the safety net?”

The potential for thousands of wounded soldiers to have to rely on remote medical care has some Defense Department healthcare officials challenging Army logic.

Members of the Recovering Warrior Task Force, an organization which oversees the services’ wounded warrior programs, at a recent business meeting in Arlington, Va., questioned the wisdom of providing remote care to soldiers with complicated healthcare needs.

“When I take your website and your [presentation], how do we not assume that your intent is to indirectly manage this very complex population?” Dr. Richard Stone, a member of the task force, asked Tom Webb, deputy to the commander of Army Warrior Transition Command, on April 16.

Driven by a shrinking wounded warrior population, the Army announced in January it would restructure community-based care for wounded warriors. It will launch 13 new Community Care Units across 11 installations by Sept. 30, and mothball its nine Community-Based Warrior Transition Units, which primarily provide care for Reserve and National Guard troops. These units support more than 1,300 soldiers.

Community-Based Warrior Transition Units provide remote management to soldiers whose medical needs were not deemed complex and are able to live with their families. These units are to be replaced by Community Care Units nested within Warrior Transition Battalions on active-duty Army installations, cutting administrative overhead.
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