Full Article at: Army Plans 'Virtual Afghanistan' to Help Treat PTSD
Updated: 2 hours 6 minutes ago
Sharon Weinberger Contributor
AOL News
ORLANDO, Fla. (Dec. 2) -- An Army-funded institute that has used virtual reality to help treat traumatized veterans of the war in Iraq is now moving to build an even more detailed virtual world of Afghanistan.
The Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California, which conducted pioneering work using virtual reality to treat those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, recently received funding from the U.S. Army to build a new, advanced computer program based on Afghanistan, according to Dr. Albert "Skip" Rizzo, a research scientist at the institute.
Virtual Afghanistan is expected to be even more realistic -- and detailed -- than the Iraq computer program. "We've got literally hundreds of stories people have told in therapy about where and what occurred to them and what happened to them," Rizzo told AOL News in an interview here. "That's stuff we didn't have when we started."
These images provided by the Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California show two street scenes from "Virtual Iraq." ICT recently received funding from the Army to build a new, advanced computer program based on Afghanistan for treatment of veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The institute has been working for the past several years with a "virtual Iraq" program to treat PTSD, which allows patients, with the help of a therapist, to relive their experiences in a highly detailed simulated scene that is designed to closely resemble the sights and sounds of specific places in Iraq. In the Iraq scenario, for example, a patient might travel in a virtual convoy that's hit by a roadside bomb.
Though the institute has been planning a virtual Afghanistan for several years, and has done some modifications to the Iraq scenario -- adding more mountains and walled compounds -- to make it look a bit like Afghanistan, Rizzo said it just got funding at the beginning of November to completely rebuild the program. The new system will have even more content and a better clinical interface, Rizzo said.
Software engineers will also be building a virtual version of Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan that is intended specifically for Air Force medical personnel who are suffering from PTSD.
But key to the virtual Afghanistan will be what Rizzo describes as a "library of content" built on veterans' individual therapy sessions, which will provide the details needed to build the virtual-reality scenarios. He recalled, for example, one patient who was performing forensic investigations into bombings and described going into a restaurant after a bombing and seeing bowls on the tables filled with blood and body parts.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
VA Outsources Retreival of Private Medical Records
Full Article at: VA to outsource retrieval of medical records from private providers
December 2, 2010 — 1:29pm ET | By Neil Versel
The Department of Veterans Affairs will bring in an unspecified private contractor to help reduce the time required to obtain medical records of veterans from private physicians. The idea isn't as much about improving interoperability, though, as it is about streamlining claims decisions and processing.
The VA has set a goal of processing all claims within 125 days with 98 percent accuracy by 2015, InformationWeek reports. To this end, the department is looking to cut the amount of time to get records from outside providers from today's average of about 40 days down to 7 to 10 days.
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said this week that the department will outsource records retrieval to a private entity as part of a pilot test. This project differs from the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record initiative between the VA, Military Health System and private integrated delivery networks in that the contractor will retrieve paper records rather than EMRs from outside providers, then scan and transmit the records to the VA over a secure connection.
The pilot will involve the handling of about 60,000 records requests between regional benefits offices in New York, Phoenix, St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Portland, Ore., Anchorage, Alaska, and Jackson, Miss. Participating veterans will have to sign waivers authorizing the release of their medical records from private entities to the VA when they apply for VA health benefits, according to InformationWeek.
December 2, 2010 — 1:29pm ET | By Neil Versel
The Department of Veterans Affairs will bring in an unspecified private contractor to help reduce the time required to obtain medical records of veterans from private physicians. The idea isn't as much about improving interoperability, though, as it is about streamlining claims decisions and processing.
The VA has set a goal of processing all claims within 125 days with 98 percent accuracy by 2015, InformationWeek reports. To this end, the department is looking to cut the amount of time to get records from outside providers from today's average of about 40 days down to 7 to 10 days.
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said this week that the department will outsource records retrieval to a private entity as part of a pilot test. This project differs from the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record initiative between the VA, Military Health System and private integrated delivery networks in that the contractor will retrieve paper records rather than EMRs from outside providers, then scan and transmit the records to the VA over a secure connection.
The pilot will involve the handling of about 60,000 records requests between regional benefits offices in New York, Phoenix, St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Portland, Ore., Anchorage, Alaska, and Jackson, Miss. Participating veterans will have to sign waivers authorizing the release of their medical records from private entities to the VA when they apply for VA health benefits, according to InformationWeek.
VA Training Letter, Re-Adjudication Under Nehmer
For those interested in what the VA has issued as the training guide for the re-adjudication under Nehmer, see the web page linked below.
Full Web Page at: Training Guide for the readjudication of Claims for Ischemic Heart
Disease (IHD), Parkinson‟s Disease (PD), Hairy Cell Leukemia (HCL) and other
Chronic B-cell Leukemias, and other Diseases Under Nehmer
Page 1
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Veterans Benefits Administration
Washington, DC 20420
June 14, 2010
Director (00/21)
In Reply Refer To: 211A
All VA Regional Offices
Training Letter 10-04
SUBJ: Training Guide for the readjudication of Claims for Ischemic Heart
Disease (IHD), Parkinson‟s Disease (PD), Hairy Cell Leukemia (HCL) and other
Chronic B-cell Leukemias, and other Diseases Under Nehmer
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On October 13th, 2009, Secretary Shinseki announced his intent to establish
presumptive service connection for IHD, PD, and HCL for Veterans who served
in the Republic of Vietnam. This decision was based on the Institute of
Medicine‟s seventh biennial update, “Veterans and Agent Orange: Committee to
Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans and Exposure to Herbicides.”
Under the court order of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
California (the “Court”) in Nehmer v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 712 F.
Supp. 1404, 1409 (N.D. Cal. 1989), VA must readjudicate previously denied
claims for IHD, PD, or HCL filed by Nehmer class members (Vietnam Veterans
and their survivors) and provide retroactive benefits pursuant to 38 C.F.R §
3.816. This requirement involves claims filed or denied from September 25,
1985, to the effective date of VA‟s final regulation establishing a presumption of
service connection for the disease claimed. Such claims may not be finally
adjudicated until VA‟s regulation change at 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(e) is final, which
will add these three diseases to the list of diseases associated with herbicide
exposure.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Resource Centers, who are responsible for the readjudication of Nehmer claims,
must strictly comply with the instructions set forth in this letter and the attached Training Guide. It is critical that Nehmer claims be handled expeditiously and correctly. The processing of Nehmer claims requires VA to operate under court-imposed deadlines. Failure to comply with instructions could result in court-ordered sanctions against VA and/or VA officials"
Full Web Page at: Training Guide for the readjudication of Claims for Ischemic Heart
Disease (IHD), Parkinson‟s Disease (PD), Hairy Cell Leukemia (HCL) and other
Chronic B-cell Leukemias, and other Diseases Under Nehmer
Page 1
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Veterans Benefits Administration
Washington, DC 20420
June 14, 2010
Director (00/21)
In Reply Refer To: 211A
All VA Regional Offices
Training Letter 10-04
SUBJ: Training Guide for the readjudication of Claims for Ischemic Heart
Disease (IHD), Parkinson‟s Disease (PD), Hairy Cell Leukemia (HCL) and other
Chronic B-cell Leukemias, and other Diseases Under Nehmer
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On October 13th, 2009, Secretary Shinseki announced his intent to establish
presumptive service connection for IHD, PD, and HCL for Veterans who served
in the Republic of Vietnam. This decision was based on the Institute of
Medicine‟s seventh biennial update, “Veterans and Agent Orange: Committee to
Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans and Exposure to Herbicides.”
Under the court order of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
California (the “Court”) in Nehmer v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 712 F.
Supp. 1404, 1409 (N.D. Cal. 1989), VA must readjudicate previously denied
claims for IHD, PD, or HCL filed by Nehmer class members (Vietnam Veterans
and their survivors) and provide retroactive benefits pursuant to 38 C.F.R §
3.816. This requirement involves claims filed or denied from September 25,
1985, to the effective date of VA‟s final regulation establishing a presumption of
service connection for the disease claimed. Such claims may not be finally
adjudicated until VA‟s regulation change at 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(e) is final, which
will add these three diseases to the list of diseases associated with herbicide
exposure.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Resource Centers, who are responsible for the readjudication of Nehmer claims,
must strictly comply with the instructions set forth in this letter and the attached Training Guide. It is critical that Nehmer claims be handled expeditiously and correctly. The processing of Nehmer claims requires VA to operate under court-imposed deadlines. Failure to comply with instructions could result in court-ordered sanctions against VA and/or VA officials"
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