Electronic Medical Records Will Reduce Time for a Decision

The Social Security Administration and the Department of Defense (DoD) are working together to improve access to disability benefits for the nation’s Wounded Warriors, service members, veterans, and their dependents. A new nationwide project enables Social Security disability case processing sites to receive military medical records from multiple DoD facilities with a single request to a centralized DoD site. As of April 30, 2012, this initiative is in its first phase of nationwide expansion.

“Receiving electronic medical records for our Wounded Warriors and other military personnel will significantly shorten the time it takes to make a disability decision,” said Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security. “This new process will improve the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of the disability program.”

Originally a pilot, the program included five states (Colorado, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington) and more than 60 military treatment facilities. These states are now receiving electronic medical records within 72 hours, a remarkable improvement over the previous average response time of five weeks for paper records from individual military treatment facilities.

The new DoD-Social Security collaboration consolidates requests for medical records from Social Security to a single location that has access to DoD records in a central electronic repository.

The benefits of the new process include:

• faster delivery of DoD medical records to Social Security,
• a more efficient system to obtain records,
• a reduction in the time it takes to make a medical decision on a disability claim, and
• a reduction in the number of consultative examinations (medical exams requested by Social Security when additional tests or medical records are needed.)

This is the first step towards the long-term goal of a fully automated solution of improving medical information sharing using health information technology and the Nationwide Health Information Network Exchange.

More information on Social Security’s use of health IT is available at www.socialsecurity.gov/hit.

Effective January 1, 2011 a new law was imposed by the Commonwealth of Virginia allowing a 100% real estate tax exemption for qualifying disabled armed forces veterans and their spouses.

Pursuant to Article X, Section 6-A of the Constitution of Virginia, the General Assembly exempted from taxation the real property, including the joint real property of husband and wife, of any Veteran who has been approved by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to have a 100% service-connected, permanent and total disability, and who occupies the real property as his/her primary place of residence.

The surviving spouse of a Veteran eligible for the exemption shall also qualify for the exemption, so long as the death of the Veteran occurred on or after January 1, 2011, the surviving spouse does not remarry and the surviving spouse continues to occupy the real property as his/her primary place of residence.

In order to receive this benefit the veteran is required to have a letter of disability from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (1-800-827-1000). The letter will have specific wording that is required by the Commonwealth of Virginia for this exemption. The letter will NOT be automatically provided to the veteran, he or she must request this letter. Virginia Form 21-4138 may be filled out and signed in the Commissioner of Revenue’s office and faxed to the Veterans Affairs office to request the letter on your behalf.

The regional U. S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs office is located at 210 Franklin Road SW, Roanoke, Va. 24011.

When applying with the Commissioner of the Revenue for this exemption the veteran must bring:
1. An original letter of disability issued by the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs
2. Photo Identification
3. Proof of residence of occupancy – Voter Registration Card

Surviving spouse should bring:
1. Approved and original letter of disability issued by the U. S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs (in the event the veteran was not previously exempted from local real estate taxes)
2. Death certificate to confirm the date is subsequent to December 31, 2010
3. A certificate of marriage from the appropriate State office of records
4. Proof of residence occupancy – Voter Registration Card

The PTSD Coach smartphone application (app), launched in April by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), has already helped more than 5,000 users connect with important mental health information and resources.

Since its launch, the PTSD Coach app has been downloaded by thousands of individuals. While 96 percent of the users so far are located in the United States, the app has also been downloaded in 25 other countries. The app lets users track their PTSD symptoms, links them with public and personalized sources of support, provides accurate information about PTSD, and teaches helpful strategies for managing PTSD symptoms on the go.

Currently, the PTSD Coach app has received perfect customer review scores on the iTunes App Store. Comments from Veterans and family members are overwhelmingly positive and one user describes the app as “a must for every spouse who has a family member with PTSD.” Professionals have sent positive reviews, suggestions and offers to collaborate on research evaluating the PTSD Coach app.

The app has also already proven to be a useful tool for the staff at the Veterans Crisis Line. Within the first two hours of the app’s official launch, the Crisis Line staff were contacted by a distressed Veteran who reported being instructed by the app to call the crisis line and was subsequently given an appointment at the local VA medical center. Crisis Line staff have begun to regularly recommend this resource to callers.

The app is one of the first in a series of jointly-designed resources by the VA National Center for PTSD and DoD’s National Center for Telehealth and Technology to help Servicemembers and Veterans manage their readjustment challenges and get anonymous assistance. Given the popularity of mobile devices, VA and DoD hope to reach tens of thousands of Veterans, Servicemembers, and their family members with the new suite of apps.

Information on the PTSD Coach app is on the VA’s National Center for PTSD Website, which can be reached by clicking here

More apps from DoD’s National Center for Telehealth and Technology can be found here

If you are a veteran who is disabled, and served on active duty before or after September 11, 2001 you may be able to receive a free Segway that is custom designed for your needs.

In order to qualify for a free Segway, you must have incurred an illness or injury resulting in permanent disability and difficulty walking as a result of one of the following:

Armed Conflict
Hazardous Service
Conditions Simulating War
Instrumentality of War
Combat Operation
Combat Zone

This program is sponsored by the Disability Rights Advocates for Technology, (DRAFT), which is made up of people with disabilities that refuse to be defined by their disability and have a passion for participating in life’s activities. They provide advocacy as well as education services as an advocate for the adoption of Universally Designed Technology Solutions. As part of their mission, they provide Segways for disabled veterans at no charge.

To date Segs4Vets has awarded more than 250 Segways to Veterans who were severely injured while serving our nation in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

Please visit http://www.segs4vets.com for more information and to apply.

Attorney Sheri Abrams is honored to have received accreditation by the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) to prepare, present and prosecute claims for veterans before the VA.

Accreditation refers to the authority granted by the VA to those attorneys who meet the standards established by the VA. VA’s stated purpose in requiring attorney accreditation is to ensure that claimants for VA benefits receive “qualified assistance in preparing and presenting their claims.”

To receive accreditation, federal law requires an attorney to complete continuing legal education covering, at a minimum, the following topics: VA representation, disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation and pension benefits, claim procedures, eligibility requirements, and appeal rights. An attorney must also establish that he or she is of good character and reputation.

The privilege of accreditation carries with it the responsibility to maintain specified standards of conduct and comply with the laws that govern VA representations, as set forth in the United States Code and the Code of Federal Regulations.

According to federal law, attorneys who do not receive VA accreditation are prohibited from assisting claimants in the preparation, presentation and prosecution of VA claims, regardless of whether or not the attorney charges legal fees for those services. Unaccredited attorneys may only provide limited services to veterans, such as providing general information about VA benefits, and may not assist veterans in the preparation, presentation, and prosecution of their claims.

The VA accreditation system is designed to ensure that lawyers who represent VA claimants have a thorough understanding of the VA health and benefit systems, so that they may provide quality assistance in the preparation, presentation and prosecution of those claims.

This accreditation allows Ms. Abrams to provide veterans and their families with advice on complex areas of law concerning long-term care planning, including VA pension benefits and the related issue of Medicaid benefits.

Ms. Abrams is proud to join fellow Needham Mitnick & Pollack Attorney Edward Zetlin in being one of the few attorneys in Virginia accredited by the Department of Veteran Affairs to assist veterans who have served our country obtain the benefits they deserve.