CAF Ombudsman on medical release and support transition to VAC

[Szczep]

Then I stand corrected. Sorry

Cheers

 

[The Bread Guy]

This from the CF Ombudsman:

Medically releasing from the Canadian Armed Forces is complicated. The burden has taken its toll on members transitioning from military to civilian life, and their families.

In 2014, my office and the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman set out to map the transition process for medically releasing Canadian Armed Forces members. As a result of this, the first visual process maps of the medical release processes for both Regular and Reserve Force members were developed. Both sets of maps represent an overview of the key steps and players involved; from the time a member sustains an injury to her or his release from the Canadian Armed Forces.  The maps also seek to better inform members of the different actions required.  The objective of this joint mapping initiative was to construct a model of the current reality. It is important to keep in mind that each stakeholder in the medical release process has different roles, priorities, and a unique perspective on the transition process. The visual maps, representing this process, are a high-level illustration of the activities that take place among stakeholders.

The work done to develop these process maps and demonstrate the complexity of the medical release process has driven informed conversations between Veterans Affairs Canada and Canadian Armed Forces through their joint Team 2020 initiative.

Moving forward, these maps can serve as a reference tool for decision makers to chart necessary changes to the medical release process, so as to reduce the administrative burden that is currently placed on ill and/or injured members.  A version of the map for medically releasing Regular Force members will be included in my report: Simplifying the Service Delivery Model for Medically Releasing Members of the Canadian Armed Forces, with recommendations for the Canadian Armed Forces which will be released shortly.

Furthermore, my Office will be releasing an educational piece in the coming weeks for members who are currently transitioning from the Canadian Armed Forces to the services and benefits of Veterans Affairs Canada, who may use the information that will be provided as a guide to better understand the steps required to complete their journey.

 

[gryphonv]

This is a good move. I know when I started my medical release, there was a lot of stress involved. Mostly due to the dearth of quality info available for easy access.

The system also takes a very long time, too long I have to admit. Especially people who want to move on and have come to terms with the fact their military career is ending.  Some are older and are facing the prospect of retraining for a new career. To them time is a valuable resource. Not one they want to waste, sitting at a desk or whatever when they could be enrolled in a training program.

Yes there is the Life Long Learning Plan that can help in some cases, but that is still very limited in scope as it requires payment up front, something which not a lot of people can do. And it is still even harder to get permission to do it during working hours.

Even though I am now out, I look forward to the package they come up with.

 

[McG]

Seems to be some good recommendations from the Ombudsman here.  This might delay many medical releases by a few weeks, but it would also cut the time between release decision and approval of benefits.

Watchdog seeks change to army discharge
Ombudsman pushes for reforms to financial support for personnel deemed unfit for deployment because of service-related injuries
Gloria Galloway
The Globe and Mail
27 Sep 2016

The man responsible for ensuring that members of Canada’s military are treated fairly is proposing significant changes to the way soldiers, sailors and aviators are released into civilian life – measures that could bridge the divide between National Defence and Veterans Affairs.

Gary Walbourne, the Defence Ombudsman, will release a new report Tuesday that says no member of the Canadian Armed Forces should be given a medical discharge before all of the member’s post-military financial supports are in place.

Mr. Walbourne’s prescription is aimed at solving a problem that has been recognized by successive federal governments. When service-related injuries render military personnel unfit for deployment, it can be months before they start to receive the money that will replace their lost salaries.

“What I am asking the Canadian Armed Forces to do is not to release any member medically until all benefits and services from all sources have been put into place,” Mr. Walbourne said in a recent interview with The Globe and Mail. “Will it put some pressure on the system?

Probably. But it will also start to force some performance.”

Mr. Walbourne wants the Defence department to maintain its members on its payroll until all of the pension plan documents have been signed and the first cheque is set to be mailed.

He also wants to ensure that no injured soldier is cut loose before the full suite of benefits offered under the New Veterans Charter, including the Permanent Impairment Allowance, the Earnings Loss Benefit, and educational assistance have been processed.

The mandate letter given to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Mr. Sajjan must work closely with Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr to ensure “a seamless transition” for Canadian Forces members to the programs and services of Veterans Affairs.

One of the obstacles, Mr. Walbourne said, is that even though Defence knows how and where an injury occurred, has control of a soldier’s health files and treats soldiers medically until the day they take off their uniform for the final time; it is the Veterans Affairs Department that decides whether an injury is service-related. That can take up to 16 weeks – the service standard at Veterans Affairs – and, until it is settled, veterans do not know what level of financial support they will receive, or whether they will receive anything at all.

In his report, Mr. Walbourne reiterates a proposal he made last May to move the responsibility for determining attribution of service from Veterans Affairs to Defence. It is a shift that he says will cut the waiting time for a decision in half.

Mr. Sajjan did not receive that suggestion with much enthusiasm.

In a letter to the ombudsman, he said the Canadian Armed Forces “has no extant statutory or policy mandate to systematically determine if an illness developed or an injury sustained during a member’s career is related to their medical service.”

But Mr. Walbourse argues that it is just a matter of changing some bureaucratic conventions.

If no policy is in place to allow the Defence department to determine whether an injury is service-related, he said, then create one.

The ombudsman also argues in favour of a “concierge service,” which is in place in the United States. It gives every veteran a single point of contact to deal with every issue – instead of being shuffled between Veterans Affairs, Defence and representatives of the government’s insurance plan.

“What we’re proposing are some opportunities for the government to really take a process that is complex and convoluted and put some sensibility to it, some common sense to make it more streamlined and much more easy,” Mr. Walbourne said.

“The government has said that veterans are important, certainly members are important, and it’s time to make a fundamental shift.” 

 

[Wookilar]

I read, and listened to, the Ombudsman's recommendations (on As It Happens last night), but from my experience there are a few issues with the procedures he is recommending.

One is how VAC/SISIP deal with files when we transition out. When I released, I was trying to go back to school. My release date was Sep 11. School started on Sep 4...It took an extra year before I could start school because neither SISIP nor VAC would process my file until I "belonged" to their respective organization. That's not how it's supposed to work now, bit it did and I was in no shape to fight it properly.

And all my CAF Case manager told me and NinerD on one of our last meetings with her that "if you see a rainbow, you just know everything will be alright." Niner almost went over the desk lol

So yeah, there are some serious problems with the transition from one org to the other. However, I do not see VAC or SISIP willing to give up relatively large chunks of their organizations' purpose to the CAF in return for....reduced budgets/profits (wrt Manulife). I'd put $100 down on the fact that the various unions in VAC would lose their collective (pun intended) tiny little minds over Adjudication being cut by some imaginary percentage let alone the support staff that exist solely for Adjudication. It would be turned into another public relations war over cuts to vets when in all actuality it's about their jobs, not our lives.

 

[McG]

PS in VAC can be moved to DND if there is a shift in the balance of work required.  Either way, the crown is the employer.  Job protection need not be a factor.

 

[Lightguns]

If done this is a great step forward. The process now is highly detailed but once you cross the release line, you feel like you are pushed out the airlock.  Everything in my case did not go well.  9 months to first pension cheque, 11 months to dental, 15 months to drug coverage, 60% of the drugs not covered and the covered alternates were ineffective.  The only thing that worked and worked well was SISIP, 28 days to after release, I had a first cheque.  The rest was a 15 month David vs Goliath battle, that only ended because someone on the inside checked the GAL and gave me a phone number to the right guy in the DND pension office just before it closed.  God bless that individual, he deserves a place in Haven.  My pension had been accessed by someone at 0% and my file shipped to archive somewhere in Quebec, as far as they were concerned on the 1-800, I had served for 34 years and never paid any pension dues because their records said so and that was the end of it.  But one man, found my file in the archive, found the error, fixed it BUT I had to work around to get him on the file and even had to cry and beg to get him to believe me.  Medical release was the worst experience of my military career.

 

[Wookilar]

After 2+ decades, I have to agree. I have to say, especially as a (I would like to think) fairly forward thinking, out-side the paper box admin type, I have never been so disappointed in a particular set of gears in the great machine we call the CAF. My pension was delayed by almost 5 months, still don't know why. For us, SISIP was on the ball as well and got my first deposit end-Oct (release mid-Sep).
One of my bud's released last Fall and it took over 9 months for his return of contributions.

How are we really supposed to live for that long? The case manager warns you that you should save up money because it may take time before everything kicks in but how can you ever plan for shit like this?

And what really gets me, there is no administrative or technological reason why it takes so bloody long!