U S Department Of Defense Disability Compensation Under A Fitness For Duty Evaluation Approach

The joint U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)-Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Integrated Disability Evaluation System is the process by which DoD determines fitness for duty and separation or retirement of service members because of disability. Service members who are evaluated for disability undergo a comprehensive medical examination to document all medical conditions and receive a disability rating for every condition documented during the exam. DoD and the VA use these ratings to determine the amount of disability compensation service members receive if they are determined to be unfit to continue serving and consequently medically discharged. Proposals for reforming the DoD compensation system have been considered in the past, but a rigorous evaluation of what those alternatives might look like and how they would affect service member benefits and costs to DoD has not been conducted. In this report, the authors describe their evaluation of four hypothetical alternative disability compensation approaches that would support a simpler disability evaluation process: compensating based on the current objectives of the DoD system (and using current benefit formulas), compensating on the basis of a military career, compensating on the basis of unfitting conditions, or compensating similar to U.S. allies. Each alternative reduces reliance on disability ratings for determining DoD disability compensation and focuses primarily on a single decision about whether a service member is fit to perform his or her duties. The authors evaluate the potential effects of each alternative on service member compensation, processing times, end strength, lost skills and experience, and readiness.

In 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD) received presidential direction to conduct a joint program to modernize and improve the disability evaluation and compensation process for wounded, ill, and injured Soldiers. VA and DoD collaborated to develop the Integrated Disability Evaluation System(IDES).The goals of IDES are to:• Reduce the overall time it takes a Soldier to progress through the IDES process, starting at the time of referral to the Medical Evaluation Board (MEB) and ending upon receipt of VA benefits or return to duty (RTD);• Utilize a single examination process that meets the needs of VA and DoD; and• Increase transparency of both the military disability evaluation system and VA claims processes for wounded, ill, and injured Soldiers and their families.The IDES process identifies all medical and/or psychological conditions that impact military occupational function for the purposes of determining fitness for duty and entitlement to military and/ or VA disability compensation. The core IDES process is standardized to ensure that each Soldier, Command, and the Army Staff understand their critical contributions to case processing. Accountability measures based on the minimum necessary standards are in place at all levels across the Army. This guidebook clarifies the processes, roles and responsibilities, and standards measured at each IDES step.The IDES Guidebook is intended solely to provide MTFs and their personnel with a description of IDES practices and procedures. The IDES Guidebook should not be construed or referenced as an authoritative source for IDES regulations or policy. In-text citations refer to authoritative IDES policy and regulations. Readers should always seek out these authoritative sources when necessary and should not, in any case, cite to the IDES Guidebook as Department of the Army policy.

Some vols. include supplemental journals of "such proceedings of the sessions, as, during the time they were depending, were ordered to be kept secret, and respecting which the injunction of secrecy was afterwards taken off by the order of the House".

The Disability Evaluation System (DES) is a management tool used by the Department of Defense to determine the disposition of a service member who has a medical condition that calls into question the member's ability to perform his or her duties. The DES exists to evaluate service members with such medical conditions, remove those unable to fulfill their duties, and determine a disability rating for those who are removed. This book focuses on four major research tasks related to improving system performance: developing a basis for assessing DES outcomes, identifying issues of variability in DES policy application, conducting a DES training analysis and presenting recommended changes, and developing a method for continuously monitoring DES performance. As part of their findings, the authors constructed a set of desired system outcomes and from that framework suggest comprehensive training and information management interventions to improve overall system performance. The authors also identify groups of primary DES participants and outline the specific bodies of knowledge and skills the participants require to execute disability policy consistently throughout the military departments.

Preface 2006 edition: The United States Code is the official codification of the general and permanent laws of the United States. The Code was first published in 1926, and a new edition of the code has been published every six years since 1934. The 2006 edition of the Code incorporates laws enacted through the One Hundred Ninth Congress, Second session, the last of which was signed by the President on January 15, 2007. It does not include laws of the One Hundred Tenth Congress, First session, enacted between January 4, 2007, the date it convened, and January 15, 2007. By statutory authority this edition may be cited "USC 2006 ed." As adopted in 1926, the Code established prima facie the general and permanent laws of the United States. The underlying statutes reprinted in the Code remained in effect and controlled over the Code in case of any discrepancy. In 1947, Congress began enacting individual titles of the Code into positive law. When a title is enacted into positive law, the underlying statutes are repealed and the title then becomes legal evidence of the law. Currently, 24 of the 50 titles in the Code have been so enacted. These are identified in the table of titles near the beginning of each volume. The Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives continues to prepare legislation pursuant to 2 USC 285b to enact the remainder of the Code, on a title-by-title basis, into positive law. The 2006 edition of the Code was prepared and published under the supervision of Peter G LeFevre, Law Revision Counsel; Grateful acknowledgment is made of the contributions by all who helped in this work, particularly the staffs of the Office of the Law Revision Counsel and the Government Printing Office. -- Nancy Pelosi.