A presidential commission on Wednesday recommended broad reforms to veterans' care and benefits, including a Web site that would contain service members' electronic health records, the AP/Washington Post reports.
Former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala led the nine-member panel, which urged for an overhaul of the disability pay system and stronger partnerships between the Pentagon and the private sector.
The proposed Web site, called "My eBenefits," would be developed jointly by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Pentagon. The Web site would allow service members and their physicians access to private medical information as the injured are transported between facilities for additional treatment, the AP/Post reports.
President Bush on March 6 created the commission to investigate problems at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., following the disclosure of unhealthy conditions at the facility (Yen, AP/Washington Post, 7/25).
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Dole said, "The ball's in [the Bush administration's] court," adding that he told the president the commission is "expecting somebody to follow up" (Gerstenzang, Los Angeles Times, 7/26).
Bush commended the panel for taking "the perspective from the patient, as the patient had to work his way through the hospitals and bureaucracies. And they've come up with some very interesting and important suggestions" (Yen, AP/Sacramento Bee, 7/25).
White House press secretary Tony Snow said that Bush would not act immediately on any of the recommendations but will likely integrate them with other ongoing efforts to improve the health care and treatment of service members (AP/Washington Post, 7/25).