VA should revise its methods for evaluating and rating PTSD i...( WASHINGTON -- To ensure more consisten...)

VA should revise its methods for evaluating and rating PTSD in veterans

WASHINGTON -- To ensure more consistent and appropriate disability compensation for veterans, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) needs to revise how it evaluates former military personnel for service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and determines the payment amounts they merit, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. A surge in the number of disability claims for PTSD has revealed inconsistencies in compensation levels awarded across the country, raising questions about the effectiveness of the VA's current ways of assessing and rating this condition, and whether some veterans are getting payments that are too low, too high, or unmerited.

The agency should develop new evaluation methods and rating criteria specific to PTSD to replace current standards that yield a crude and overly general assessment of PTSD disability, said the committee that wrote the report. It urged the VA to base compensation decisions on how greatly PTSD affects all aspects of a veteran's daily life, not just his or her ability to be gainfully employed.

The agency also should ensure that all veterans applying for PTSD compensation receive a thorough, initial evaluation by an experienced clinical professional. These exams should be of sufficient duration to provide a detailed picture of each veteran's condition so that disability raters -- non-clinical personnel who determine whether a disability is connected to military service and the level of impairment it entails -- can make more consistent and better informed decisions about the level of compensation each veteran merits. More thorough evaluations also would enhance VA's ability to detect inappropriate claims, though the committee confirmed that PTSD symptoms can manifest many years after a traumatic event or may interfere with a veteran's ability to function only later in life.

"As the increasing number of claims to the VA shows, PTSD
'"/>

Contact: Christine Stencel
news@nas.edu
202-334-2138
The National Academies
8-May-2007

Page: 1 2 3
Related medicine news :

1. Patients with soft tissue sarcomas should be treated at high volume centers
2. UK and other European countries should introduce universal childhood hepatitis B vaccination
3. GPs should lead chronic disease fight -- Top doctor
4. Teens can perform CPR as well as adults and should be taught from an early age
5. SCHIP has been successful overall, should be expanded says new health care opinion leaders survey
6. Physicians should be able to review performance rates before release
7. Medical students should be taught about rape
8. Shrug off shoulder surgery myth, study suggests
9. Position of car indicator lights affects safety -- designers should take note
10. Where should I have my outpatient surgery?
11. Patients should be alert for obesity surgery complication

Post Your Comments:

(Date:11/8/2009)...GTON, Nov. 8 Pharmaceut... Senior Vice President Ken Johnson released the fo...reform bill: ,, "We are disappointed, but not s...y millions of hardworking Americans as well as nea...sentatives who voted against the bill. ,, "Whil...

(Date:11/8/2009)...Praises House Passage of Health Care Reform Bill ...are, improve coverage for all Americans ,, BAL...: Tonight the United States House of Representati... that would strengthen Medicare for seniors and en...s millions of Americans out of affordable health c...

(Date:11/7/2009)...N, Nov. 7 The American ...ames, Director of Health at the Family Violence Pr... Service today at its semi-annual policy-making me...the highest honor the AMA House of Delegates besto...w.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081209/AMALOGO ) ,...

(Date:11/7/2009)...n: "Faithful Catholics have a responsibility to vi...ate the status quo." ,, WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 ...resident Judie Brown released the following statem...upport Speaker Nancy Pelosi,s Affordable Health Ca...ent preserving the status quo for abortion is vote...

(Date:11/7/2009)... not assume that all youth will rebel, expert says...Teens are more likely to behave badly if their par... "Parents who believe they are simply being realis... prophecy," Christy Buchanan, a psychology profess...study, said in a university news release. "Negativ...

Breaking Medicine News(10 mins):Health News:PhRMA Statement on House Passage of Health Care Reform Bill 2 Health News:PhRMA Statement on House Passage of Health Care Reform Bill 3 Health News:AARP Maryland Key Vote News Alert 2 Health News:AARP Maryland Key Vote News Alert 3 Health News:AMA Honors Family Violence Prevention Expert 2 Health News:Statement Regarding Cardinal Rigali's Memo Protecting the 'Status Quo' On Life 2 Health News:Bad-Behaving Teens May Be Living Up to Expectations 2

[0] PhRMA Statement on House Passage of Health Care Reform Bill [0] AARP Maryland Key Vote News Alert [0] AMA Honors Family Violence Prevention Expert [0] Statement Regarding Cardinal Rigali's Memo Protecting the 'Status Quo' On Life [0] Bad-Behaving Teens May Be Living Up to Expectations

(Date:11/6/2009)...NGTON, Mass., Nov. 6 DUS... a dermatology company that is developing and mark...nd other products focused on patients with common ...nt and Chief Executive Officer, will present a cor...or Summit 2009 on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 10...

(Date:11/6/2009)...URY, N.Y., Nov. 6 Repossessions an...ools in the third quarter of 2009 declined as comp...ssau Asset Management,s NasTrac Quarterly Index (N...ity reports for both repossessions and orderly liq...for both construction and printing equipment, offe...

(Date:11/6/2009)...NGTON, Nov. 6 America,s... working group of mid-market and smaller innovator...s about H.R. 3962, the "Affordable Health Care for...Thursday. These smaller companies fear that the c...962 will hinder their efforts to bring new medicin...

Breaking Medicine Technology:NasTrac Quarterly Index Shows Decline in Trucking and Machine Tool Repossessions in Q3 2009 2 NasTrac Quarterly Index Shows Decline in Trucking and Machine Tool Repossessions in Q3 2009 3 NasTrac Quarterly Index Shows Decline in Trucking and Machine Tool Repossessions in Q3 2009 4 Statement of America's Specialty Medicines Companies On House Health Care Bill (H.R. 3962) 2 Palomar Successful in U S Patent Office Re Examination of Hair Removal Patent 48874 1 Palomar Successful in U S Patent Office Re Examination of Hair Removal Patent 48874 2 Palomar Successful in U S Patent Office Re Examination of Hair Removal Patent 48874 3 Palomar Successful in U S Patent Office Re Examination of Hair Removal Patent 48874 4 Palomar Successful in U S Patent Office Re Examination of Hair Removal Patent 48874 5 While the Dangers of Sun Exposure are Widely Understood Americans Fall Short of Adequately Protecting Themselves from the Sun 48869 1 While the Dangers of Sun Exposure are Widely Understood Americans Fall Short of Adequately Protecting Themselves from the Sun 48869 2 While the Dangers of Sun Exposure are Widely Understood Americans Fall Short of Adequately Protecting Themselves from the Sun 48869 3 While the Dangers of Sun Exposure are Widely Understood Americans Fall Short of Adequately Protecting Themselves from the Sun 48869 4 Video 3A Varicose Veins Much More Than a Cosmetic Issue Can Prove a Health Risk 12622 1 Video 3A Varicose Veins Much More Than a Cosmetic Issue Can Prove a Health Risk 12622 2 Video 3A Varicose Veins Much More Than a Cosmetic Issue Can Prove a Health Risk 12622 3 Video 3A Varicose Veins Much More Than a Cosmetic Issue Can Prove a Health Risk 12622 4

[0] DUSA Pharmaceuticals to Present at the Merriman Curhan Ford Investor Summit 2009 [0] NasTrac Quarterly Index Shows Decline in Trucking and Machine Tool Repossessions in Q3 2009 [0] Statement of America's Specialty Medicines Companies On House Health Care Bill (H.R. 3962)

Other News:

The brain mechanism underlying the mind-bending effects of hallucinogens such as LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin has been discovered by neuroscientists. They said their discoveries not only shed light

...y percent of men who receive appropriate radiation...s to treat their prostate cancer are cured of thei... a study released in the February 1 issue of the I...y*Physics, the official journal of ASTRO....Seed i...

...ts in the form of iron-containing molecules might ...d diseased tissue in magnetic resonance imaging (M...carefully managedaccording to a new report* by res...d Technology (NIST) and collaborators. Molecular n...

...est American Chemical Society (ACS) News Service W...ed from 35 major peer-reviewed journals and Chemic...ers, ACS is the world's largest scientific society...sPac - ALL CONTENT IS FOR IMMEDIATE USE EXCEPT ART...

Mechanism of hallucinogens' effects discovered Prostate cancer patients see high survival rates with seed implants Using nanomagnets to enhance medical imaging ACS News Service Weekly PressPac -- January 31, 2007

Adults often believe infants are off in their own world, but a new study indicates they are more tuned into the wider world and what the people around them are doing than previously thought.... The re

...alth & Science University (OHSU) has demonstrated ...ally occurring variations in sexual partner prefer... such a correlation in research animals, in this ...xpand upon human studies that compared morphologic...

... been awarded by the National Institute on Drug Ab...st science-based drug abuse prevention interventio...rocesses and mechanisms that contribute to the ada...n models and will examine prevention delivery fact...

...al observer in the operating room at Cedars-Sinai ...for initially believing that the surgeon was playi...ng the nation's first Zeus robotic system-assisted...puter Motion, is a multi-armed, highly evolved rob...

health news:The eyes have it: Study shows infants more tuned into wider world than previously believed 2 health news:The eyes have it: Study shows infants more tuned into wider world than previously believed 3 health news:The eyes have it: Study shows infants more tuned into wider world than previously believed 4 health news:Brain differences in sheep linked to sexual partner preference 2 health news:$4.5 million awarded to create community drug abuse prevention trials network 2 health news:Surgeons perform nation's first Zeus robotics system-assisted gastric bypass surgery 2

The eyes have it: Study shows infants more tuned into wider world than previously believed Brain differences in sheep linked to sexual partner preference $4.5 million awarded to create community drug abuse prevention trials network Surgeons perform nation's first Zeus robotics system-assisted gastric bypass surgery

VA should revise its methods for evaluating and rating PTSD i...( WASHINGTON -- To ensure more consisten...),Health