Lawmakers urge VA to keep better records
By Patricia Kime - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Dec 6, 2012 13:27:02 ESTLawmakers are pressing for digitization of military records, and better file sharing among agencies responsible for them, following media reports of missing or inaccurate unit records and the temporary disappearance of 250 files from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis.
In November, media investigators at Pro Publica and the Seattle Times found that the Veterans Benefits Administration denied some claims because service members’ units had lost or inaccurately catalogued their field records, making it impossible to prove they had deployed or suffered a service-related medical condition.
And on July 3, a person walking in the woods behind the records repository in St. Louis found a dumped cache of 250 military records. A follow-on investigation found they’d been unloaded by a temporary employee who was supposed to have filed them.
Rep. Jon Runyan, R-N.J., said Tuesday that problems must be addressed by all three agencies that handle troop records, including the Defense Department, Veterans Affairs Department and the National Archives, to ensure the records are “initiated, maintained and transferred as efficiently as possible.”
“Often, a single record or notation can be the difference in whether a veteran’s disability claim is granted or denied. This is why we must work together to ensure that no records are lost, overlooked or otherwise unable to be associated with an individual disability claim,” said Runyan, chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s disability assistance and memorial affairs panel.
Several initiatives are underway to digitize records and ensure accuracy. DoD and VA are piloting a $4 billion integrated electronic health records system to ease the transfer of information between the departments; VA is rolling out the Veterans Benefits Management System, a paperless claims processing system; and NRPC maintains an electronic system that the tracks records and automates work assignments.
Veterans’ advocacy groups pressed Congress during a Dec. 4 hearing on the matter to encourage creation of a Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record that would include an individual’s complete personnel and medical information starting from recruitment.
They also urged Congress to press the military to reconstruct lost unit records and lower the standard of proof for veterans to provide information related to claims when records are lost.
According to Vietnam Veterans of American, among 3,956 claims appeals of veterans represented by VVA between 2001 and 2003, 954 involved missing service records.
“There should be no way that the VBA should be able to deny their claims based on lack of military records,” said Michael Viterna, president of the National Organization of Veterans’ Advocates.
Ranking subcommittee member Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., said managers and the employees who handle military records must take their responsibilities seriously.
“Veterans and their families should not be burdened with the responsibility of recreating lost files, providing multiple copies of records that once were in DoD or VA’s possession,” McNerney said.
Runyan promised follow-on hearings to address the problems associated with lost and inaccurate unit records and closer scrutiny of record-keeping in general, which he considers vital to clearing VA’s disability claims backlog.
In a Wednesday email to Military Times, National Archives Chief Operating Officer Jay Bosanko said the administration is investigating the displacement of the records in St. Louis and the Justice Department is also looking into the matter.
He added that the records were recovered and affected veterans are being notified.
“The National Archives carries the responsibility for collecting and preserving the service records of America’s military members. This responsibility is serious. … It is also very great, with hundreds of millions of documents in our care. No one takes that responsibility more seriously than the archivist, David S. Ferriero, himself a Navy veteran,” Bosanko wrote.
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With military cuts in the works, lawmakers may be disappointed that their concerns may get way-laid. However, it seems a worthy goal and I'm all for it. In the cited case, a temp worker obviously didn't want to work. What's wrong with that picture?
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