Why Can't the DOD Get Records System Working?

Veterans’ health records lost in VA-Department of Defense divide 
The Washington Times
By Jacqueline Klimas
April 5, 2015

The 2013 plan required the Pentagon to hand over service treatment records to VA “immediately” and establish an electronic transfer capability for the records by the end of 2013. “Immediately” was translated into a PDF document handed to the veterans upon their release, and the establishment of transferable electronic records is still in progress.

When former Marine Sgt. Chris Morey went to the VA for excruciating back pain and migraines, doctors said they couldn’t do anything for him because they had not received his deployment medical history from the military.

Sgt. Morey, who separated from the Marine Corps in 2007 after serving four years, was told by the Department of Defense that the VA would be sent a copy of his deployment history that included things like a concussion he’d suffered in an improvised explosive device blast during his third tour in Iraq. But that never happened.

“I’m telling you I get headaches; I’m telling you my back is messed up,” he told The Washington Times of his visit to the VA.

“You’re telling me it doesn’t matter because it’s not in this record.”

Veterans advocates are urging the Defense Department and VA to collaborate better so electronic health records can simply be clicked and dragged from one system to another when a service member transitions to civilian life, eliminating problems like the ones faced by Sgt. Morey.

While the new secretaries of the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments have publicly said their priority is providing seamless customer service, advocates say they have seen little progress in solving the decade-old divide between the two bureaucracies.

Under the current system, troops are given a compact disc with PDF copies of their health records when they leave the military that they must bring to the VA. The PDFs are essentially just photos of records and can’t be manipulated or updated with current health information.
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Look back to what was in the news in 2007

Kaiser Health Disparities Report: A Weekly Look At Race, Ethnicity And Health Coverage and Access
Delays, Lost Paperwork Persist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Washington Post Reports
[Sep 17, 2007]

Patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are continuing to encounter problems with lost paperwork and delays in appointments, months after President Bush and Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates promised to make "swift changes" to improve the care that soldiers were receiving at the military facility, the Washington Post reports (Priest/Hull, Washington Post, 9/15).

Earlier this year, a Post series detailed poor conditions for people receiving outpatient care at Walter Reed (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 5/3). After the series was published, the Army "moved swiftly" to fix the outpatient system and established three panels to examine the "entire overburdened military medical care system" for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Post. Despite these efforts, patients and family members continue to complain about the obstacles facing veterans, including a lack of information and explanation of options given with discharge papers, the long disability process, excessive bureaucracy and rotating staff, all resulting in inadequate care, the Post reports.

in 2008

Report: Military Inconsistent' On Medical Records Reviews
By LISA CHEDEKEL And MATTHEW KAUFFMAN Courant Staff Writers
June 5, 2008

"Because of DoD's inconsistent policies," the investigators said, "providers determining if ... service members meet DoD's minimum mental health standards for deployment may not have complete medical information."

The accountability office reviewed changes approved 18 months ago in the way troops are screened for mental-health status before and after deploying to war.

The defense department in late 2006 adopted a policy, in response to congressional legislation, that tightened pre-deployment screening by setting limits on when troops with mental-health problems may be sent to war and retained in combat.

The legislation was prompted by a series of stories in The Courant that found troops' mental illnesses were being missed or ignored during pre-deployment screenings. Some of those troops committed suicide in Iraq.

and in 2012

Report: DoD benefits database rife with errors
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jun 5, 2012

The Senate Armed Services Committee wants quick action to improve the accuracy of the Defense Enrollment Eligibility and Reporting System, both to correct mistakes about beneficiaries qualified to receive health care and other benefits, and to weed out those who are not eligible.

In a report filed Monday about the pending 2013 defense authorization bill, the committee is calling for a swift response to an April 2012 report by the Defense Department inspector general that found 200,000 discrepancies in DEERS, and 2,495 instances in which Tricare health benefits were used by ineligible people. The erroneously paid health care benefits totaled $11.2 million, according to the Senate committee report.

DEERS has about 9.4 million people enrolled, including active-duty, reserve and retired service members and their spouses and children, who are eligible for military health care and other benefits. The inspector general report found supporting documents were missing for up to 2.8 million beneficiaries.

Yet again, the problems are reported, congress pays attention, then nothing much changes. Gee wonder why that is or why no one is ever held accountable for what they fail to do? Well, other than the men and women who step up to serve the country? Why am I hearing Britney Spears - Oops I Did It Again?