Army Looks at Revamping Medical Boards

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Army Looks at Revamping Medical Boards
September 19, 2008
Army News Service|by Heike Hasenauer

WASHINGTON - Some 400 representatives from the Army, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Labor and Social Security Administration, among others, are meeting in Leesburg, Va., this week to discuss ways to improve the care of wounded and ill Soldiers.

Many of the discussions have centered on revamping the Medical Evaluation Board process by which wounded and ill Soldiers are screened to determine whether or not they're fit to continue to serve, said Brig. Gen. Gary Cheek, the Army's assistant surgeon general for Warrior Care and Transition.

"Members of the MEB determine whether or not a Soldier is fit or unfit for service," Cheek said. "Then, the Soldier goes before a Physical Evaluation Board, which gives him a disability rating." Because of the two processes, "there's confusion and duplication of effort," he said, adding "We need to get the military completely out of the disability process and allow the Veterans Administration to be a single source of benefits."

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Today military medical experts are saving Soldiers' lives on the battlefield, evacuating them quickly to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and others, to receive the best care possible. Then, those same medical professionals who saved the Soldier are making evaluations as to whether or not the Soldier should be retired from duty. They go from being angels "to being the enemy," Cheek said.

In July, the Army chief of staff issued a message to Army leaders indicating there had been "an explosion of Soldiers in warrior transition units" over the 16-month period since the WTUs were created - from some 5,000 to 12,000, said Lt. Col. Michael Mixen, chief of Plans and Policy for the Warrior Care and Transition Office.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/army-news/army-looks-at-revamping-medical-boards.html?col=1186032369115