One Process for Disability Claims?

The Interagency Task Force on Returning Global War on Terror Heroes established by President Bush following the clamor over problems with outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center has issued its report, concluding that VA and DOD must develop a joint process for disability determination. The task force also wants all veterans returning from the war on terror to be screened for traumatic brain injury, one of the most widespread and hard-to-define problems experienced by wounded from current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The President has asked VA Secretary James Nicholson, who headed the task force, to work with another post-Walter Reed group, the Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors, to share ideas. Nicholson also must report back to the President within 45 days about progress toward implementing the task force recommendations.