Pentagon announces new measures to improve troop outpatient care

WASHINGTON -- Under criticism for poor treatment of injured soldiers, the Pentagon announced new measures Tuesday to provide more health screenings, improve its record-keeping system and simplify an unwieldy disability claims system.

Testifying before a House panel, Michael Dominguez, principal deputy undersecretary of defense, and Major Gen. Gale Pollock, the Army's acting surgeon general, acknowledged a need for major changes in the outpatient treatment of wounded soldiers and veterans.

They expressed confidence in a new leadership team overseeing Walter Reed Army Medical Center following disclosures of shoddy treatment in February and urged lawmakers to be patient.

"We believe we have the right people and the right mechanisms in place to make sure that all soldiers who are in a transitional status -- our warriors in transition -- are managed with care and compassion, and that they and their families are receiving the care they so justly deserve," Pollock told a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee.

The new initiatives come following a blistering report last week by an independent review group co-chaired by former Army Secretaries John O. "Jack" Marsh and Togo D. West that found money woes and Pentagon neglect were to blame for many of the problems at Walter Reed.

Concluding that Pentagon officials should have known about problems but chose to ignore them, the panel ordered by Defense Secretary Robert Gates called for a quick infusion of funds, a new "center of excellence" for brain injury cases as well as an overhaul of the disability claims system, which critics say shortchanges injured soldiers.

On Tuesday, Pollock and Dominguez said they had already begun implementing changes even as they awaited the findings of several investigations under way by presidential commissions, task forces and congressional committees.

They included:

• Creation of a working group of senior military leaders to speed disability determinations and work to eliminate inconsistency.
• Testing systems to facilitate sharing of inpatient records electronically with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Injured troops and veterans have complained of long wait times, multiple visits and lost paperwork as they moved from military hospitals to the VA's vast network.
• Conducting additional health screenings for service members three to six months after they return home. The aim is to catch medical conditions that might not immediately be apparent, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.