01/31/13

Disability Claims Initiative Reduces Processing Time, Adds Convenience

Medical Records Review Can Eliminate In-Person Exam Requirement WASHINGTON –The Department of Veterans Affairs has launched a new initiative that could eliminate the requirement for an in-person medical examination for some Veterans and shorten the time it takes to process Veterans’ disability compensation claims. The initiative is called Acceptable Clinical Evidence (ACE). This initiative was developed by both the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) in a joint effort to provide a Veteran-centric approach for disability examinations. Use of the ACE process opens the possibility of doing assessments without an in-person examination when there is sufficient information in the record. Under ACE practices, a VA medical provider completes a Disability Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) by reviewing existing medical evidence. This evidence can be supplemented with information obtained during a telephone interview with the Veteran – alleviating the need for some Veterans to report for an in-person examination. “ACE is a process improvement that will help us meet our goal to eliminate the claims backlog and provide more timely benefits to our Veterans, their families and survivors,” said Undersecretary for Benefits Allison A. Hickey. “The initiative also saves Veterans the inconvenience and costs associated with attending a medical examination.” When a VA medical provider determines VA records already contain sufficient medical information to provide the needed documentation for disability rating purposes, the requirement for Veterans to travel to a medical facility for an examination may be eliminated. If VA can complete a DBQ by reviewing medical records already on file, it will use the ACE process. This would then expedite the determination of disability ratings – in turn eliminating the wait time to schedule and conduct an exam from the claims process. During a 15-month pilot test at one VA regional claims processing office, 38 percent of claims submitted were eligible for ACE. The ACE initiative is a part of the VBA’s agency-wide Transformation Plan – a five-year, multifaceted organizational change that is based on more than 40 personnel, process and technology initiatives designed to improve claims processing. The goal of the Transformation Plan is to eliminate the claims backlog and process all claims within 125 days with 98 percent accuracy in 2015. To learn more about VBA Transformation Initiatives, visit: http://benefits.va.gov/transformation/.

01/29/13

75-day leave carryover extended

WASHINGTON (Jan. 29, 2013) -- The policy allowing service members to carryover up to 75 days of leave from one training year to another has been extended until Sept. 30, 2015. The leave carryover policy was set to revert back to only 60 days on Sept. 30 of this year. But the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act passed this month extends the 75-day carryover. "Otherwise there was going to be a big push the last few months of the year for everybody to burn up their extra 15 days of leave," said Victor Bosko of the G-1 Compensation and Entitlements Division at the Pentagon. "Now they have two more years." The 75-day leave carryover policy was implemented in 2008 due to the high operations tempo, Bosko said. "Everybody was complaining about losing leave," he said about troops at that time. The policy was geared at easing some of the OPTEMPO stress. An All Army Activities, or ALARACT, message dated Jan. 22 of this year announced extension of the leave carryover policy.

01/29/13

Applications for Tillman scholarships open until mid-February

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 29, 2013) -- Service members, veterans and their spouses have until Feb. 15 to apply for financial aid through the Tillman Military Scholars program. The Tillman Military Scholars program removes financial barriers to completing a degree program. The scholarship covers direct study-related expenses such as tuition and fees, in addition to other needs such as housing and child care.

01/28/13

New Copays for Some TRICARE Pharmacy Customers

FALLS CHURCH, Va. – New copayments for prescription drugs covered by TRICARE will go into effect February 1, 2013. The Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act requires TRICARE to increase copays on brand name and non-formulary medications that are not filled at military clinics or hospitals. There is no increase to copays for generic medications. TRICARE Pharmacy copays vary based on the class of drug and where beneficiaries choose to fill their prescriptions. The copay for generic medications stays at $5 when a prescription is filled at a network pharmacy. There is no co-pay when generic prescriptions are filled through TRICARE Home Delivery. The new copay for a 30-day supply of a brand name medication purchased at a retail network pharmacy will be $17, up from the current $12. Beneficiaries using TRICARE Home Delivery will pay $13 for brand name drugs, up from $9. However, the Home Delivery price is for a 90-day supply. The greatest change in copays applies to non-formulary medications. The $25 copay for these drugs increases to $44 at retail pharmacies and $43 through Home Delivery. The TRICARE Uniform Formulary is a list of all the medications TRICARE covers. For fiscal 2014 and beyond, the new law directs that copays increase annually by the same percentage as retiree cost-of-living adjustments. In years when a COLA increase would total less than a dollar, it will be delayed a year and combined with the next adjustment so increases will always be $1 or more. Pharmacies at military hospitals and clinics will continue to provide medications with no copays. Visit www.TRICARE.mil/pharmacycosts for more details.

01/17/13

Army freezes hiring, cuts base ops, reduces training

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 17, 2013) -- In advance of possible extreme budget cuts that could arrive in March, Army leadership has called for an immediate hiring freeze and spelled out other pre-emptive measures meant to help the service prepare for a fiscal cliff. In a memo dated Jan. 16, Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh and Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Ray Odierno laid out 15 "near-term" actions to help the Army "reduce our expenditure rate and mitigate budget execution risks in order to avoid even more serious future fiscal shortfalls." "We expect commanders and supervisors at all levels to implement both the guidance contained in this memorandum and the detailed instructions to follow," wrote McHugh and Odierno. "The fiscal situation and outlook are serious." WHAT HAPPENS NOW First among those actions is an immediate freeze on civilian hiring, though Army leaders have left commanders with some latitude in the policy for "humanitarian and mission-critical purposes." Also among employment-related measures spelled out in the memo is a termination of temporary employees when "consistent with mission requirements." The memo also directs installation commanders to reduce base operations support for fiscal year 2013, which runs from Oct. 1, 2012 to Sept. 31, 2013, to levels that are about 70 percent of fiscal year 2012. Commanders have been asked to reduce support to community and recreational activities and to also reduce utilities consumption "to the maximum extent possible." Non-mission-essential training activities are also up for reduction. In particular, training not related to maintaining "readiness for Operation Enduring Freedom, the Korean forward-deployed units, Homeland Defense and the Division Ready Brigade." Also targeted is conference attendance and professional training that is not mission essential.