July 17, 2008 by admin.

By Bob Brewin, bbrewin@govexec.com   07/16/08
The Veterans Affairs Department announced on Wednesday that its online benefits application process now is completely paperless. VA no longer will require veterans to submit a signed paper copy of a benefit application in addition to the electronic version.

The department will process applications received through its Veterans Online Applications Web site without a signature as the electronic application will be sufficient authentication. Veterans, their survivors and beneficiaries will be able to file electronic applications for disability compensation, pension, education, and vocational rehabilitation and employment benefits without submitting a signed paper copy, according to VA.

“We applaud the Department of Veterans Affairs for making the online application process simpler and more users friendly,” said Gerald Manar, deputy director of the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ National Veterans Service. He added the paper-copy signature requirement along with the electronic application often resulted in “substantial delays in processing claims.” A VA spokeswoman did not respond in time for publication to a question on how long the department has operated its online application system.

In addition to expediting the claims process, Manar said eliminating the paper signature would lower the risk of denying a claimant simply for failing to submit a piece of paper. “This is a positive step,” he said. “We hope that VA makes the most of this new procedure.”

VA said its online application system already reduces the number of incomplete applications it receives, which decreases the need for additional work by claims processors.

VA provides compensation and pension benefits to more than 3.7 million veterans and beneficiaries, and approximately 523,000 students receive education benefits. About 90,000 disabled veterans participate in the department’s vocational rehabilitation and employment program.

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March 18, 2008 by admin.

By Bob Brewin bbrewin@govexec.com March 14, 2008
The Veterans Affairs Department has started inching toward deployment of an online comprehensive health care and benefits portal recommended by the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors in an August 2007 report. VA expects to have a bare-bones site operating in the next few weeks on Army Knowledge On-Line (AKO), the Army’s enterprise Web portal.
The Wounded Warriors Commission recommended that VA and the Defense Department develop within a year a Web-based portal to provide patients with health care and benefits information from the two departments. On March 11, top VA and Defense officials told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee that they intend to develop Web portals that integrate veterans’ heath records on a comprehensive Web site, which also provides information on follow-up services.
Retired Air Force Col. Peter Bunce, father of Justin Bunce, a medically retired Marine Corporal severely wounded in Iraq, said in an interview that a Web portal was only as good as the information it contained. He urged that Web-based systems established by Defense and VA contain information on a range of clinical resources, including care available outside the VA and Defense health systems. Bunce said he found health care and specialists for his son Justin, who also suffers from traumatic brain injury, without VA’s help.
Bunce said any comprehensive Web portal should provide information based on geography, and the departments needed to devise a way to supply specialized care and benefits information to patients and their families, rather than expecting them to find it. VA also should ensure that each patient had a case manager who coordinated care — including home visits — and one lead doctor to manage clinical care, he added.
Dr. Paul Tibbits, VA’s deputy chief information officer for enterprise development, wrote in an e-mail that the initial, unsecured eBenefits Web site available through AKO will link to other sites for use by wounded, ill and injured service members, veterans and their families. By this fall, he said, VA anticipates having a secure eBenefits portal site operational, based on the log-on model of Army Knowledge Online and its Defense Knowledge Online counterpart. This version of the eBenefits portal will present health care and benefits information as recommended by the Wounded Warriors Commission, Tibbits said.
Kevin Carroll, a consultant who previously served as program executive officer for Army’s enterprise information systems, said AKO was safer and more efficient because VA will be able to tap into the AKO and DKO personnel directories and leverage those portals’ already developed applications. The department then could take a “cut-and-paste” approach to development, rather than start from scratch, he said.
VA also is developing an advanced Web portal called My eBenefits, which is scheduled to go live in fiscal 2009, according to Tibbits.

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March 18, 2008 by admin.

Please check out the following link.

http://www.sdvob.coop/

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March 10, 2008 by admin.

 Hire Vets First - Job Opportunities.  Click the link below for more details.

http://www.hirevetsfirst.gov/ 

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February 4, 2008 by admin.

Grassley secures commitment from IRS nominee

to consider veterans from Iraq, Afghanistan for vacant jobs at agency

            WASHINGTON — Senator Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member of the Committee on Finance, won assurances today from the nominee for IRS Commissioner to try to hire 1,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for agency positions during the upcoming fiscal year.

            “It’s important for the federal government to do everything it can to help returning service men and women, including many who are disabled, find employment.  In turn, veterans offer a talented and dedicated work force,” Grassley said.  “These are extraordinary young men and women, and our country is honored by their service.  The IRS is facing a skilled worker shortage, and it seems obvious that the agency could benefit from veterans’ experience, energy and ‘can do’ attitude.”

              It’s anticipated that the IRS will lose a significant number of experienced personnel and skilled staff to retirement over the next few years.  Grassley said it makes sense for the agency to actively pursue this kind of opportunity “to help veterans and improve taxpayer services.”

            Grassley said he would pursue any legislative changes needed to assist a hire-veterans effort by the IRS, though he also said he’s confident that the tax-collection agency already has authority to undertake this kind of an initiative.

            Grassley presented his proposal and received a willing response from the IRS nominee, Douglas Schulman, during a Finance Committee nomination hearing this morning.  Grassley said he looks forward to receiving feedback on how the incoming commissioner would conduct outreach, job classifications and reclassifications, notification and work with veterans’ organizations and the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense.

            Grassley has a long record of working to improve services provided by the IRS.  He worked to establish the IRS Restructuring Commission and win passage of IRS overhaul legislation ten years ago.  He previously co-authored numerous taxpayer bills of rights, and he has conducted active oversight of the agency from his leadership position on the tax policy committee in the United States Senate.

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