Following Walter Reed Tour, Norton Seeks Short and Long Term Solutions - 2/21/2007

Following Walter Reed Tour, Norton Seeks Short and Long Term Solutions to End Bureaucratic Nightmare
February 21, 2007

Washington, DC—After visiting two buildings at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said that she will be working on immediate shortcut solutions to address red tape problems with the military health care system nationwide that she first learned about at hearings before the Government Reform Committee and were reported this week in The Washington Post. Norton toured Building 18 and Mologne House, not only to inspect temporary quarters for recuperating solders, but also to talk with service men and women directly about concerns with their health care.

Norton criticized the base realignment or BRAC hearings and investigation in 2005 that focused on bricks and mortars when human needs should have been a far larger priority. The Congresswoman said while state-of-the-art care is delivered in Walter Reed Hospital itself, a soldier’s recovery is left to a decrepit, antiquated administrative system. She said that a new process should include assigning a caseworker to each military person to see their recovery through completion. “Now soldiers are caught in a never, never land of bureaucracy, and not just at Walter Reed, but nationwide.” She cited testimony from a February 2005 Government Reform hearing that the Army lacks customer friendly processing, management controls to insure uninterrupted pay and benefits, a coordinated personnel system, and a synchronized computer system to keep track of injured or ill reserve soldiers and their needs. For example, the Army Surgeon General’s Office is working on integrating 29 different information technology systems that track a soldier’s life in the military.

Norton said that today she received word from Walter Reed officials that competitive bidding foul-ups have delayed repairs to Building 18 and Mologne House where service members who have been released from the hospital, but still require outpatient care at WRAMC, are staying. The Congresswoman saw repairs underway that officials said should be completed shortly.

The Congresswoman will be asking for help from Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Committee, where funding may be needed to eliminate “administrative nightmares,” as well as shabby conditions at WRAMC buildings.