Transcripts For CSPAN3 Veterans 20240704

Spring. Next, Veterans Affairs secretary, Dennis Mcdonough talks about expanding healthcare and benefits for eligible veterans and their families, during his address, he discusses Building Trust in the va, workforce challenges and modernizing the agency. Good afternoon, welcome to the National Press club, the place where news happens. Im the president of the National Press club and managing editor of standards and training at good afternoon and welcome to the National Press club, the place where news happens, im eileen oreilly, and the managing editor of seniors and training at axials. Thank you for joining us both here and online for our headliner event with Veterans Affairs secretary, denis mcdonough. To submit a question online, please email headliners at press. Org. For our cspan and public radio audience, please be aware that in the audience today are members of the general public so any applause or reaction you hear is not necessarily from the working press. It is now my pleasure to introduce this distinguished head table, please stand when your name is called. Starting on my far right, tom young, commander of the American Legion post 20 which is affiliated with the National Press club. Breanna kammerer, Patient Experience officer for the va new England Healthcare system. Carla bam, correspondent for voa news. Kevin wincing, managing director and retired u. S. Navy veteran and organizer of todays function. We will get to you in a moment. Lori russo, president of Santos Communications and colead of the ncp headliners team. And to my left, jennifer johnson, reporter for defense news and the 115th president of the National Press club. Lynn dean, assistant director of Customer Experience for the Veterans Benefits and administration. The senior associate and consultant to the va. Richard r beto, client and experienced officer of the vha readjustment counseling service. And the publisher of stars and stripes. [applause] when our guests today were sworn in as the 11th secretary of Veterans Affairs on february 8th 2021, he pledged to increase veterans access to care and benefits and to improve outcomes for them. He identified three core responsibilities as his highest priorities. Providing veterans with timely worldclass healthcare, ensuring that veterans and their families have access to the benefits they have earned, and honoring our veterans with the final resting place that is a lasting tribute to their service. But, secretary mcdonough also faced a host of challenges that would require vast amounts of time and resources. The persistent and worrisome problems the veterans homelessness, untreated Mental Health issues and uptick in suicides, structural issues at the va that created backlogs of claims, reports of serious side effects from the exposure to burn pits, those common among Service Members overseas. I. T. Problems that landed the va on the gla high risk list for Cyber Security issues and, just this weekend, the New York Times released an investigation that describes how many of the troops sent to bombard the Islamic State with tens of thousands of high explosive shells which may have also sent shockwaves through the crew members including their brains, now reporting severe headaches, memory loss, hallucinations and strange behaviors. But, despite being only the second civilian leader in the va, mcdonough has a long career of tackling tough issues, he served as the white house chief of staff and the Obama Administration and prior to that, his Principal Deputy National Security adviser. He has also served in Senior Leadership and policymaking decisions in the u. S. House of representatives. He graduated from st. Johns university in minnesota and received his masters degree from georgetown university. Had his efforts are causing some headway at the va already, according to the military times this morning, va leaders say they set alltime records in healthcare, benefits to veteran outreach efforts in fiscal 2023. As veterans day approaches, it is the time to honor our veterans for their great Surface Service and sacrifice. By the way, if you are a veteran, please stand up, thank you for your service. [applause] thank you. Today we are eager to hear from secretary mcdonough about the progress he has made on the state of priorities and what remains to be done, please join me in a warm welcome to secretary mcdonough. [applause] eileen, thank you for the nice introduction, it is great to be here with everybody, good afternoon, nice to see old friends. Stakeholders, partners, veterans, this year marks the 50th anniversary of americas withdrawal from vietnam. This year and every year we remember the 58,220 americans, american patriots who were killed or are still missing from the war. And we honor the 9 million americans who raised their right hands and committed to serve and defend our constitution, as members of the armed forces during that tumultuous time in our countrys history. One veteran, objected from his skyhawk on august 5th, 1964, shot down over north vietnam. He landed in the water among a fleet of vietnamese fishing boats where he was quickly taken captive and became the first of 766 american prisoners of war in vietnam. Lieutenant alvarez endured over eight years of captivity and the infamous hill, marking the passage of time on the walls, celebrating his own catholic mass each sunday. He chose to hang on to every motivation he could muster, thoughts of home, the strength of faith, trust in his country and a deep sense of duty to his fellow p. O. W. S. On february 12th, 1973, shortly after the United States signed the paris peace accords, lieutenant alvarez was finally free. His service did not end when he got back home. He retired as a commander, continued serving the nation out of uniform as deputy administrator of the va and as an advocate for his fellow veterans and families. But my favorite part of his amazing story is what happened while he was recuperating when he came home, he met a wonderful woman, tammy and asked her on a date. That date, their first date was at the white house at an event honoring commander alvarez and his fellow vietnam war p. O. W. S, that is kind of a big date. Just a few months later on october 27th, 1973, they were married. Just last week, that means they celebrated 50 years of marriage. So, that 50 years of history, since the end of the vietnam war, marks our veterans having continued to make this country strong. Commander alvarez and tammy are on another date, here this afternoon. So, congratulations and thank you for your Courageous Service to the nation. [applause] veterans day is saturday. Its a day we remember the millions of brave men and women just like Everett Alvarez who veterans day is saturday. It is a day we remember the millions of brave men and women just like Everett Alvarez, who fought our nations wars and stood guard over our country during the times of restless peace and between those wars. It is a day to reflect on what veterans and their families have done, what they have sacrificed for our country and each of us, because heres the thing, when somebody signs up to serve our country in the military, we make them a promise. If you fight for us, we will fight for you. If you serve us, we will serve you. If you take care of us when you come home, we will take care of you. Our country as a whole makes that promise and i will say more about that in a minute. And at va it is our privilege and honor to keep it. So, i will start as eileen said with an update on what we are doing at va to keep our promise to veterans. Since President Biden took office, the va has delivered more care and benefi veterans than ever before. When it comes to the benefits the veterans have earned, we are processing their claims faster than ever before. Heres an example. Just over a year ago, the president signed his historic legislation designed to care for veterans who were exposed to toxins in vietnam and in almost 30 years of war, and Central Command. The impact act. Sergeant erickson is one of those veterans. He served in the army for nearly 30 years, combat spanning from the jungles of vietnam to the deserts of operation desert storm. Last may, the Sergeant Major was diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer and he filed for those toxic exposure benefits. Our va benefits to expedited the review of his claim at the direction of the president. In less than a week, Sergeant Erickson was granted 100 Service Connection and his benefits were backdated to august 10th, 2022, the day the president signed the bill into law. Because of that law, Sergeant Major erickson has one less thing to worry about and what may be the most demanding battle of his life, that is what we mean when we talk about fulfilling that promise. Altogether, va processed nearly 2 million claims in 2023, shattering the previous years record to that point, the highest ever by 16 . That meant 1. 5 million veterans and their families and importantly, survivors received over 160 billion in earned benefits. We are also providing more care to veterans. This year va delivered more than 116 million healthcare appointments. Exceeding last year by more than 3 million. And its not just more care, it is better care. Worldclass care. Study after study shows we deliver Better Health outcomes than the rest of the Healthcare System for our veterans. Which is a big reason why nearly 90 of veterans who come to va now trust us to deliver their outpatient care. 5. 4 Million People are taking their final rest in the Va National Cemeteries and we have doubled our online veteran legacy Memorial Program to nearly 10 million veterans. Keeping veterans stories alive long after they are gone. Behind all these statistics are veterans. Veterans like commander alvarez and like Sergeant Major kenneth erickson. They are our neighbors, our friends, they are teachers, civic leaders, coaches, loved ones. They are continuing to serve america to defend and strengthen our democracy long after they take off their uniform. And all of our work adds up to the single statistic that matters most, veterans lives improved, saved by the work that we do together. I want to talk about how weve done it and who does it. The va workforce has been delivering for veterans during a period of rapid change, teaching us lessons that have forever altered the way va does business. First, while the covid19 Public Health emergency came to an end six months ago, lets not forget that the clinicians and frontline staff provided worldclass care to what has been a devastating once in a century pandemic, from the moment that hit, vas Public Servants mobilized around one core mission, saving and improving the lives of veterans, families, caregivers and survivors. They worked long hours, sacrificing precious time with their families, risked their own lives and by extension, the lives of their loved ones, to serve veterans. Because you see, that is the promise we make. And there are veterans at home today with their families right now happy and healthy because of the best workforce in the federal government and an incredibly grateful, every one of them. Today, our Service Members represent the most deployed force in our nations history. And our thoughts are with the brave men and women serving in uniform in this time of heightened readiness and urgent security challenges in the middle east and around the world. Through this 33 year intense period since september 11th, 2001, many have experienced multiple deployments, came home gripped by both the visible and invisible wounds of war. All of them, each of them were exposed to particulate matter and toxins and burn pits from other sources. Months or years later, some have developed and some might yet still develop, conditions that follow them home from war. That impact on their lives and in some cases will continue long after the guns of war have silenced. It is our job as a nation to provide those veterans, families, caregivers and survivors benefits and care for those conditions. And thats exactly what we are doing. These two developments, these two very important developments, the pandemic and our commitment to recognize the care have catalyzed a dramatic time of change and reform, revolutionizing the way we do business. But one thing hasnt changed, and that is keeping the vet, each of you at the heart of everything we do. So let me share four lessons we have learned during the new veteran centric era. First, we are sitting our care and service into veterans lives, not expecting veterans to build their lives around us. If we are going to keep our promise, we need to meet them where they are, when they need us without exception. So we have reached out and listened to what they wanted, using a veteran Center Design approach, we developed tools to ensure vets and their caregivers have positive, productive experiences when engaging in the va. We overhauled va. Gov to make it the digital front door for all services va offers. Medical appointments, filing a claim, applying for education benefits, all goes through the same front door. And the new va health and benefits mobile app gives thats access to that digital front door, meaning veterans with a smart phone can have all their va services right in the palm of their hand wherever they are. So, while a vet is watching a football game, they can refill a prescription, send a message to the doctor, access their travel reimbursement, and more. It is working. Not perfectly, but it is working. We have seen a staggering 3000 jump in vet virtual home visits since 2020. Nearly 28 million home visits in that time. By offering care that is built into vets lives and the community, via telehealth and alongside technological advances, we have increased decreased average wait times in nearly 60 of our facilities. The same is true in bda, we reduced the average time of a claim by 15 days in the last year alone. And at the board of veterans appears appeals, 103,000 decisions were made last year. As a result, vets trust in va has grown stronger. Again, it is not 100 , but it is stronger. We are about shaping solutions for vets that meet them where they are, they are adopted to you and to your needs. Rather than expecting you to adapt to us. Second lesson, vas people, not machines, not computers, we keep our promise to our vets. To delivering toxic exposure benefits, none of this happens without the best federal workforce in the federal government. They are the most passionate, highest performing Public Service servants in this country. They are folks who want to make a real difference in the lives of vets. The lives of survivors, caregivers and families. And i am proud and i am privileged that they consider me their colleague for this brief time i get to work with them and we owe it to them to have a workforce sized to meet this mission, that can ensure we operate to injure veteran Patient Safety and highquality claims decisions. This has been a year since the last time i saw you, a year of hiring at record pace. While retaining our excellent staff, and by the way, not retaining are not excellent staff. This year we strengthened our partnerships with our unions and both the veteran Health Administration and the Veterans Benefits administration have had their highest growth rates in more than 15 years. The ha now has more than 400,000 employees providing healthcare to veterans. And with 32,000 employees, vba is bigger than it has ever been. We have also increased employee retention, even in one of the hottest labor markets in modern history, a market with profound Healthcare Provider shortages. Why are we able to go and grow our workforce in this context . Because people want to work for you. For our nations heroes. People like shelby, a va nurse, for her, serving veterans is a family affair. Her brother, a surgical nurse at bay pines and they are both following in their moms footsteps, in the day Pines Community living center, and maybe that navy vet , av sr at the chicago regional office, he was inspired to join the va because of the thorough response of care his dsr gave him when he was transitioning out of the navy. And there is hector rodriguez, a marine vet. Hector went from being homeless on the streets of san diego to working as a caretaker in the national cemetery. Thanks to vas compensate of work, hector regularly goes back to his former homeless camp hoping to inspire and support other veterans in crisis. Veterans helping veterans. Nothing better. Third, va cant, and by the way doesnt do this work alone. Each of us has a piece of this puzzle from the white house to the hill, faithbased and community groups, to Veterans Service organizations, from private sector to the universities, we all play a critical role. These partnerships are helping us tackle some of our most pressing priorities on preventing veteran suicide, on ending veteran homelessness and improving Healthcare Access and more. We Just Launched the second round of grants under the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Suicide Prevention program. These grants go to local organizations. Implementing Innovative New Suicide Prevention programming where veterans live and work, meaning that we are funding local people who know their vets. Organizations like nations finest which provides transitional and permanent support for housing veterans. This team recently helped a pregnant vet fleeing domestic violence. Think of that sentence. A pregnant vet fleeing domestic violence. Talk about a phrase that should not exist in the english language. They enrolled her in prenatal care, connected her to veteran resources and found her temporary housing. Just one veteran of hundreds that nations finest helps every year. And working with state, local and community parties we are providing Wraparound Services for vets, homeless and at risk vets, more of them than ever before. As last year, we are on pace again this year of exceeding our goal of permanently housing 38,000 homeless veterans. Permanently housing. And part of the way we are providing more care and more benefit, than ever before is through the Community Care program. Succeeding in the Community Means scheduling appointments faster, we are doing that. It means paying our bills more quickly, we are doing that, too. And it means incorporating the records of that care in the community into our records so we can recognize the full promise of the vas integrative Healthcare System, allowing providers to Work Together and build plans of treatment. And medical interventions, a psychiatrist seeing a veteran with ptsd, they can see their neurological records. And the team can huddle up and discuss coordinated care. Along with the neurologist, social workers, primary care providers and any other team member involved. That is the integrated treatment that improves outcomes but if we are not getting the records of the veteran care in the community back, we decrease that efficiency, we increase cost, and most importantly, we reduce effectiveness for the vet. So we have to see our Community Partners as just that, partners in our quest to provide integrated care, integrated veteran centric care to high quality outcomes. As i stand before you in this room, the National Press club, i underscore our partnership with the press. We cannot keep our promise to veterans without you. The journalists who tell veterans stories, journalist like the one working in the back, patricia. You know, patricia stories make va better, because they trust patricias reporting, veterans, va employees and other stakeholders, knowing they trust her, talk to her when they see that something is not working the way it should or maybe not working the way we tell them it is working. So, her reporting and stories help us better understand what veterans experienced in war, what they are going through at home and how we can better help them often times bringing something to our attention that we didnt even know was happening. A couple months ago, patricia noticed a Software Issue on va. Gov website, the one i was just bragging about, preventing some veterans from submitting their claims appeals, she asked for a comment. Alerted by the problem, we were able to immediately fix the m and Alert Congress to the issue. And prevent similar issues from happening again in the future. As i said, patricia is here so i will speak directly to her, your work is having a direct and positive impact on the lives of veterans, you make us better to serve vets by Holding Us Accountable. You and your mates , people like leo sitting right here, ellen mill heiser, aaron, courtney, are helping us serve veterans better than we ever could on our own. And as eileen just mentioned, just yesterday, investigative reporting from David Phillips and the New York Times uncover the unseen tbi risk faced by soldiers and marines, who operated heavy Artillery Weapons in the fight against syria. If you havent read it, you must. Because of this reporting, va will be reaching out to those veterans who served in the Field Artillery units to ensure they are receiving the care they need and importantly, the care they have earned. Those vets served in syria and iraq, making them eligible for that care under the pact act. Several of the vets profiles are characterized as having received less than Honorable Discharges. We call them oth. The va cannot change the discharge, veterans are not automatically disqualified from va services because of discharge status. They are not. In fact, over the last 10 years, the va has granted benefits and care to 73 of the veterans with other than Honorable Discharge status, who have presented to us. So, to those veterans, in that heartbreaking story, and any watching today, we want to serve you. Please apply now. Please reapply, if you have been denied before, and we need everybodys help, every Single Person in this room communicating with vets so they get the care they need. And the benefits they deserve. Finally, we have seen again and again, earning Veterans Trust is critical to everything we do, trust means many things, it means making it easier for vets to get care and benefits, and that they feel respected when they come to va. Theres no greater privilege than having that trust and theres no higher bar to meet and theres no bigger problem than when we lose it. Since va began measuring trust in 2016, those three measures of trust and the veteran experience make it easier to get your appointment, was ineffective and did you feel respected, each one of them has increased. The active surveys are bringing in more than 12 million responses over the life of this signal, allowing us to hear directly from veterans about your experience at the va and all of this information is released to the public through our quarterly trust reports and add va. Gov trust, tying trust metrics with our performance. Three of the va teammates to help manage this intensive survey process that helps us ensure the veteran experience and trust in the eighth care benefits join me at this lunch today, they all work in frontline veteran experience roles. Helping va measure and learn how to build better trust from our patients. From our customers, from the people we work for. Breanna went into healthcare because her dad was sick when she was in high school. Her grandpa was an army that but he didnt trust va care when he left the military and that is her passion, making sure other veterans have a good experience with va. Linda comes from a long tradition of Naval Service and while she didnt serve, she often says that there is seawater in her familys blood. Well, her son joined the navy as a rescue swimmer and that is when she decided she would work on digitizing the records, she went on to lead the very first project on machine learning, today she brings her experience to help make the mac help va make datadriven decisions to our claims process decisions. And richard served as an army officer in the 82nd airborne division. He fought in the initial invasion of iraq and in the years after, we have lost 40 paratroopers he served with to suicide, including a best friend. Any of them rest today across the river in section 60 at Arlington National cemetery. Richard came to va to honor them. He says this has never felt like work, it is a mission. I wake up every morning because of this mission. You see why im so excited and be humbled to be a part of this team, they share a deep devotion to keeping our promise to vets, it characterizes their callings as well. And boy do they demand high standards from us, their teammates. Our mission is far from over, there are enormous challenges ahead, meeting the demand of millions of veterans who have filed claims under the pact act and who will qualify to be enrolled in va healthcare. But i know that with va teams and teammates leading the way, Public Servants like breanna, lynn, richard, va will continue serving thats every bit as well as you have served us. And as we look to the future, we are not looking to build a va that goes back to some old one, instead we are going to do better for vets, we will continue to be better and this future isnt because of me, in fact it was well underway without me. It is because of the 450,000 employees in your communities and neighborhoods across the country who keep vets at the heart of the care they provide. So again, to all the veterans here today and is watching, thank you for everything. And to the press club, my thanks for all that you do Holding Us Accountable as veterans and telling their stories in the powerful way that you do, god bless you all and may god bless our veterans, families, caregivers and survivors. Now lets get some questions. [applause] thank you for that. We will do rapidfire questions. So, thank you for addressing the New York Times report. I just want to confirm that you said that the pact act should cover those impacted by the high explosive shelling. Yes, thank you, it is a very important story that appeared yesterday and i encourage you to take a hard look at it. Remember what the pact act says, if you served during 30 years of war in Central Command, and you stepped in that aor, that begins your process of eligibility. Also, the pact act goes a step further and says if you have any of a series of more than 25 conditions, then we presume those conditions to be connected to your service. My point is not that all the conditions that dave covered our by the pact act, my point is that there is a 10 year window in which our veterans qualify for care. So we want to make sure that we are in touch with them to tell them that we can see them and we want to make sure that they file claims so that those conditions that they might be experiencing, that we will work through with them, and they can get service connected. I hope that answers the question. Speaking of the pact act, amid recruitment challenges, how has the va handled the unprecedented influx in claims . We anticipated and hoped that congress would pass a new law on this, but we werent waiting. So in may of 2021, President Biden, using his own authority, and i think you have all seen the reporting about how strongly and how personally he feels about this issue, began connecting three initial conditions to service in Central Command and exposure to burn pits and toxins and importantly, just plain old particulate matter. All you guys over there, you remember what that was, you are in a constant sandstorm. So just ingesting that amount of silica is a problem. So, the experience of may, june, july and august of 2021 showed us that we were going to need more people into his good credit, vba employee, tom murphy said we need to start hiring now. For the three conditions that the president has established and for Anything Congress establishes coming forward, so we have been hiring at vba since september, 2021. Which is why we have more than 32,000 employees at vba right now, the claims process is overwhelmingly moved by a simple entry point. Which is more people receiving claims, that is one way we are addressing this. A second way, we are hiring more people, that is going to take us a little time to train all those people but weve been hiring then since 2021, we are adding fully trained people into the claims review process almost monthly. The second thing is, we are also looking at the process itself and figuring out where can we do away with unnecessary steps, where can we avoid unnecessary cmp exams. And where we need them, lets make sure we have even more personnel working contract and pension exams, that is the second way. The third way is we are trying to modernize this process. So, weve been undertaking the automation process in our claims process at vba where we use an automated Decision Support tool, it is still humans that make the decisions and thank goodness we do because nobody is more empathetic and more likely to make a decision in the interest of the veteran than our employees who have dedicated their lives to veterans. But, the automated process can help do what machines do best, which is go aggregate data, consolidate that data, and then present that to the bsr or the rating bsr so they can make a decision. That process is proving to work well but we are not betting on massive returns over the near term, that is a longerterm effort for us. Those are the three areas we are working on. And last thing is, we are putting out every two weeks how we are doing on the claims. We are not hiding this from anybody, we put this out every two weeks on friday morning, you can find that data, we are putting it out there. I want no veteran to be dissuaded from filing a claim. We are going to work through those claims, we are doing it 15 days faster per claim this year than last. Still, 120 something days on average but we are getting faster and we will stay at this until we get every one of them done. Thank you. Theres a couple other questions with the pact act, can you give us an update on whether there is any progress on making bronchiolitis a disability rating . I think i have to be very careful with what i say here, because the way we do this is through rulemaking and i want to be careful to not somehow knock offkilter the administrative procedures act but we are trying to get to the bottom of it. Theres really three questions here. Actually, really 2. 1, how do you diagnose constrictive bronchiolitis . Right now the condition is relatively new and recognized in the community and the process i which we confirm the condition is so invasive, as to make it not in the veterans interest to carry out that action. The second question is, how do we categorize that in the vba system such that the benefits can be paid to the veteran quest let me underscore that, that is a process we will go through in terms of rulemaking and im not going to say anything about it to not compromise it, but what i will say is that veterans can still get their benefits, their Compensation Benefits even as we work through this process, so if theres any veterans struggling with that, i want them to be in touch directly with us and we will work it through. Can you discuss the impact in the change in rates for special modes of transportation and to Access Medical treatment and emergency transportation for complications stemming from burn pit exposure . Super interesting question, is the questioner in the audience, are we talking about the rural travel reimbursement rates . The sustainab i see. Sustainab as well as complications that may arise needs the mac t. Got it. Good. Rt is start from the top and i dont know who is proposing a reduction, but its not us. What we have said is if you do not have a contract va to provide the service you provide , we will have no choice but to contract with you at medicare reimbursement rates, okay . That is what the proposal says. This is a proposal that is designed to ensure the va addresses a problem that the Inspector General has raised with us several times, including in a very hardhitting report that i just reread last week. That report said that there is, the way the va pays for emergency ambulance and air ambulance puts at risk taxpayer interest, so we are going through a process where because the va, as near as we can tell, alone among Healthcare Systems in the country, pays for each individual ambulance with cash in that exchange, meaning, but for a number of cases where we have a contract provider, we are just paying cash for each run. We cannot find another Hospital System that does it that way, which i think is why the ig is so glad. We are trying, through this rulemaking process, to get contracts each individual market. We at the National Level have not and we dont know about individual market. Those contracts are being negotiated, i hope, in each of the individual hospitals stems. Systems. I hope we get to the bottom of this and work this out because getting that really tough report in 2018 should have been enough. We need to make sure we are doing right by our veterans. Another one and then act duty captain in the air force sent in an email, the captains father passed away in 2013 from cancer developed from exposure to toxic burn pits while in the middle east. The va declared his Death Service related in 2014 and the family qualified for chapter 35 va benefits but when the captain applied last year to fund a graduate student study, the va told the captain the did not qualify due to their active duty status. So, first of all, thank you for an amazing family of service , to that veteran. You dont have to be the name, but is the name attached . Let us reach out to you directly because i want to make sure i dont miss state, so let us work the case and we will get to the bottom of it. Part of the reason im not he answering the question is am not sure and i guess maybe the question would be, so im just not sure. Okay. All right. On to other issues. On friday, roughly 40,000 low income veterans owe money because of accounting errors of the past 12 years. Va officials said they would not collect for now but this follows a series of other technical issues related to disability claims that affects tens of thousands of veterans and delays in the implementation of Electronic Health record. Why does the va continue experiencing these expensive technical issues and what is being done about it . I might just aggregate these questions. The issue relates to a question of recordkeeping and Self Certification for a particularly Vulnerable Group of veterans who get different kinds of federal stipends or assistance and also get va pension and so the question is, not whether there was a technical failing but whether we were closely enough monitoring the Self Certification about how much those veterans were receiving in terms of federal funding and va benefits. This is what i mean when i say that we want to be a va that works to bring service to veterans, not to have them build their life around us and so i dont think this was a technical failing is much as it may have been a policy execution failing over the course of more than 10 years and in that scenario, we will study closely whether that set of policy steps that were taken should be made whole by the veteran or whether we, if it was indeed va that made the faulty calculations, whether we should take care of that, so thats what we mean when we say we are not collecting them for now. We are looking at how we address this in the context of a veteran centric va to make sure that our programs are built around and into veterans lives and respond to veterans needs rather than again, making sure that they follow our various requirements which at the end of the day, our hours to implement, not the veterans. But there are also other there are definitely other issues, but i think you raised three, i volunteered one. Thats definitely, those are things where we are going to make mistakes and when we find them, when Congressional Staff members or congressional members of congress or veteransr themselves identify them for us, we will fix it. Thats the second. The third are big, new technology overhauls like the Electronic Health medical centers and that is something weve been going at for more than a decade and it has been difficult to implement. Some of that is difficult, across a national, very complex Healthcare System. Some of it is because technological advances like theo Electronic Health record have proven difficult, irrespective of of the Healthcare System and some of it is because the technology is not, in all cases, everything you hoped it would be so we are looking into that, but i dont think it speaks to the fundamental capacity one way or the other of our providers and our leaders at va, where i think that we are doing positive things. I will just call your attention to the va benefit healthcare app, which we have been slowly rolling out. We are now north of 1 million users and the veteran experience on that, not uniformly, not 100 positive, but the ratings are positive, overwhelmingly so. We will keep implementing these transparently, responsive to the problems that our veterans experience that our stakeholders, like the press and Congressional Staff and congressional members identify for us. We are routinely hearing that its not up to snuff and when we do, we will fix it. Robert card, responsible for last months mass shooting, underwent a medical evaluation while training at the u. S. Military academy in new york. The army directed that while on duty he should not be allowed to have a weapon, and the ammunition, or participate in live activity and declared him nondeployable. Why do you believe he was still a reservist and was not discharged and if this is by the book, what needs to change . Im not in a position to comment on the decision made. Im really, obviously our heart go out to the victims of this senseless act of violence in lewiston. We are in very close coordination to our vision one teammate at all in portland to make sure that we are supporting victims, victims families, and First Responders in supporting the state in this response. The va initiated the veterans legacy memorial project meant to be an Online Repository of record of every veteran now deceased. It began with veterans interred at national and va grant cemeteries and has expanded and includes veterans buried in 87 Different Countries with records dating back to the american revolution. Why does the va embark on this project, what do you see as this will, and what does it mean to you . In the case of one veteran, its important to me. For me to add my voice on what that veteran has meant to me and thats the idea of the veterans legacy memorial, its an opportunity, its developed, deployed, and maintained and we will communicate about this, so please watch this space, but the idea is that like our national cemeteries, which are national treasures, where our veterans can be assured the dignified vesting place, commensurate with their Honorable Service in defense of the constitution in our democracy, this is meant to be a living memorial, where survivors, family members, in my case, we can update that legacy. So that the country can come to understand the fullness of the work, sacrifice, and the benefit that our veterans have taken on our behalf and so, i encourage you guys to check out the veterans legacy memorial through va. Gov and if you have any problems with that, get in touch with patty. Before i asked the last question, let me take a moment to thank the organizers of todays event. Todays headliner event coordinator, at the club event coordinator, the Club Membership director, the Club Executive director and all of you for participating in our conversation. Its my honor to present you with our coveted National Press club month. Is this your third one . Thats great. This is the best china weve got. Thats great. Okay. Last question is from the audience, this person says my father is an army veteran. He did not serve in combat and consequently feel strongly did not earn va benefits and what would you say to convince him his Service Warns va services . Thank you. You know, when Congress Authorizes and appropriates funding for those authorized programs every year, they do it pursuant to a very clear definition of who is and who is not a veteran and what i would to your dad is that the care and the benefit that va offers are related, start at that very important moment when you raise your right hand and swore the oath to defend, protect and defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic and that is what you did for 28 years. Not only that, you did that honorably. Thats the first thing i would say. Second, by the way, if you dont want the benefits, thats okay. Your spouse, your children might also benefit. They, too, sacrificed for 20 years. They, too, served honorably and sacrifice at your side for 28 years. Lastly, i mentioned a moment ago that one of the things we are doing is automating our decision process so that we can get automated decisionsupport for the great va employees who make the decision. What i tell veterans is, i know you really want to help your battle buddies and maybe you think you dont deserve it and someone else deserves it more. It could be that the most important thing you could do to help your battle buddies, given how we prosecute these claims now, you could file that claim because you know what . That might tell us anything about what your unit went through. In 28 years, you did a lot of vigorous training. In 28 years, you took on a lot of sacrifice and it could be that weve learned something about you, which by the way, ends up being useful for other people in your unit. This is particularly true for those who served in command. We learn about you and we learn about your unit. We learn about the unit you received and the unit that relieved you. You, these are your benefits that you earned swore that oath and when you served the way you did. These are benefits that may accrue to your spouse, to your children and that act of filing a claim with us might be a piece of information that helps us complete the picture for other men and women in your unit so, please, please, file the claim. Thank you. Thank you. Cspan is your unfiltered view of government, funded by these Television Companies and more, including charter communications. Proud to be recognized as one of the best internet providers and we are just getting started, golden 100,000 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. Charter communications supports cspan as a Public Service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. Be uptodate in the latest in publishing with book tvs podcast about books with current Nonfiction Book please releases, best seller list, and Industry News and trends insider interviews. You can find about books on c span now, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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