SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Doctors, nurses and pharmacists who work at the FDA or other federal agencies are prohibited under the Dual Compensation Law from "moonlighting" at other federal healthcare facilities like National Naval Medical Center (DOD), NIH Clinical Center (HHS) or any of the Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals. "Moonlighting" is a term used often by physicians and other patient care providers to describe the provision of medical care... more »

Turn the VA into more of an HMO and let the Veterans decide where and who they go to for Medical Treatment as a result of service. This will have the ability to save literally HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of dollars a year.

There are billions of dollars that were turned over to the 50 States by Banks, Employers, Insurance companies, Stock companies, etc. all belonging to millions of Americans who forgot they had this money. Match the Federal records (SSN's) of anyone receiving any Federal benefits (SSA, SSI, VA, Medicaid, Food Stamps, etc.), against those of the 50 States holding this Unclaimed Property we could reunite people with billions... more »

Require anyone dealing with death (hospitals, police, funeral directors, hospice workers etc) to report a death on-line within 24 hours to stop all benefits paid with Federal dollars.

There has been much research done on employees working from home. More work is accomplished by employees working from home. They don't want the privelage takin away so they work harder and usually put in more time. Also, makes the employee have less stress of trying to get to work.

I have to admit that recently my family was the subject of an unknown to us huge waste of government money. Since my wife and I are both veterans, our tuition is paid through the GI Bill. Since we don't receive the bill for our tution, we never knew we were being charged as out of state residents, even though we were both living in my home of record state.

It wasn't until my wife's GI Bill ran out that we said, hey,... more »

Individuals that receive monthly VA benefits for themselves or as a widow or child often do not report their VA income to SSA. Those that are receiving SSI end up with large overpayments which could have been avoided if SSA Claims Representatives had online access to verify VA income and changes to the VA income for claimants.

Make the VA more efficient. Have the VA use military health records instead of calling veterans in numerous times to take the same test over & over! The process to get disability benefits is horrendously long and exhausting. The system for data entry of service related health records is also horrendous. It is not user friendly or intuitive & if you are lucky enough to enter your "x" yrs of service data, you then have... more »

Currently veterans are at risk because the Veterans Administration is considered dicretionary spending. Savings could be realized from the current overlap of DEERS and Tricare recipients and VA beneficiaries.

VA doesn't obtain medical records from DoD hospitals and medical facilities electronically. Additionally, VA will order tests that have already been done at a DoD medical facility. Sharing records and tests electronically saves time, money and paper. This should work both ways, i.e. VA to DoD facility and DoD facility to VA.

VA needs to upgrade the structure and content of standard language used in its automatically generated letters (MAPD and PCGL) to provide optimal service to Veterans, slash claims inventory, save money, and boost employee morale.
Edits should be done by VA employees who work claims daily, not contractors in Washington who have never opened a Veteran's file.
Every month VA receives thousands of requests to clarify... more »

People who use the VA for healthcare who also have Tricare, Medicare, Medicaid and/or get care at military facilities are consuming large quantities of money and time that could be spent on people who depend exclusively from the VA for care. This should be better regulated, it should not happen. A lot of veterans have no other means of getting medical attention than the VA, but there are thousands that go to their outside... more »

Each Day, The Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA) sends thousands of letters to veterans and their dependents. The current system mandates hard copy letters to every veteran.

With the advent of electronic mail (e-mail), and Secretary Shinseki's goals to transform VA into a 21st Century organization, eliminating the claims backlog by 2015, I suggest that optional e-mail communication between veterans and VA be established.... more »

The www.eBenefits.com portal will have an application accepting "Pre-Need" applications from the public seeking to have burial and memorial (headstone/marker) eligiblity determined in advance of need. This will reduce the grief to families who are asked to "prove their Vet is eligible" at the worst time ever -- when a death has occured. Families hunt around for evidence of military service, rank, honors (medals/commendations),... more »

The 131 National Cemteries have very crude maps printed from 83 visitor Kiosks. The maps are very low resolution thermal maps and hard to follow and very hard to ready by any visitors with less than perfect vision.

The maps should be improved using recommendations from experts in "Readability' to design a map that is easy to read for all (even color blind and low vision individuals). As an option the map could be sent... more »