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VA Requests $94 Billion for Veterans in FY '09 Budget
Peake: VA Will Provide Timely, Accessible and High-Quality Care
WASHINGTON (February 4, 2008) - Honoring the nation's commitment to
care for the newest generation of combat veterans and service members from other conflicts and eras, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B.
Peake announced today President Bush is seeking a budget of $93.7
billion in fiscal year 2009 for the Department of Veterans Affairs(VA),
with health care and disability compensation receiving most of the
funding.

If Congress accepts the White House's budget request, VA's budget would
be $3.4 billion more than the current spending level and nearly double
the budget in effect when President Bush took office seven years ago.

"This budget builds on VA's past successes in providing veterans with
timely, accessible delivery of high-quality benefits and services
earned
through their sacrifice and service in defense of freedom," Peake said.

The FY '09 budget proposal calls for $47.2 billion in discretionary
funding, mostly for health care. It also would provide $46.4 billion
in
mandatory funding for compensation, pension, educational assistance,
home loan guaranties and other benefit programs.

Peake said the budget proposal will provide funding to ensure
high-quality care to VA's highest priority patients -- veterans of the
Global War on Terror, those with service-connected disabilities,
lower-income veterans, and veterans with special health care needs.

Under the new budget, VA will strengthen its collaboration with the
Department of Defense (DoD) for world-class health care and benefits to
veterans, service members and their families, including progress toward
the development of secure electronic patient health care records that
can be used by both departments.

This proposed budget will also allow VA to continue implementing the
recommendations of the President's Commission on Care for America's
Returning Wounded Warriors (Dole-Shalala Commission). Peake said the
commission's report provides "a powerful blueprint to move forward with
ensuring that service men and women injured during the Global War on
Terror receive the health care and benefits necessary to allow them to
return to full and productive lives as quickly as possible."

The budget request includes:

* $1.3 billion to meet the health care needs of an estimated 330,000
veterans returned from service in Iraq and Afghanistan;

* $3.9 billion for mental health services;
$762 million for non-institutional long-term care; and

* $1.5 billion for prosthetics and sensory aids.

The President's budget request contains $252 million devoted to
research
projects focused specifically on veterans returning from service in
Iraq
and Afghanistan. This includes research in traumatic brain injury,
polytrauma, spinal cord injury, prosthetics, burn injury, pain, and
post-deployment mental health.

A major challenge in improving the delivery of compensation and pension
benefits is the steady and sizeable increase in workload. The volume
of
claims is projected to reach 872,000 in 2009 -- a 51 percent increase
since 2000. VA will address its ever-growing workload challenges by
acquiring greater access to DoD's online medical information, by
working
to reduce the Department's reliance upon paper-based claims folders and
by aggressively hiring new staff. By the beginning of 2009, VA expects
to complete a two-year effort to hire 3,100 new staff.

The President's budget request includes $181 million in operations and
maintenance for the National Cemetery Administration, a 71 percent
increase from the resources available to the Department's memorial
program when the President took office. The budget request includes an
additional $5 million to begin interment operations at six new national
cemeteries -- Bakersfield, Calif.; Birmingham, Ala.;
Columbia-Greenville, S.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Sarasota, Fla.; and
southeastern Pennsylvania.

The President's 2009 budget would provide more than $2.4 billion for
the
Department's information technology (IT) program. This is $389
million,
or 19 percent above VA's 2008 budget, and reflects the realignment of
all IT operations and functions under the control of the chief
information officer. The proposal contains $93 million to uphold VA's
cyber-security program to support the commitment to make the Department
the gold standard in data security within the federal government. VA
continues to take aggressive steps to ensure the safety of veterans'
personal information, including training and educating employees on the
critical responsibility they have to protect personal and health
information.
Highlights of the VA budget are listed below.

FY '09 VA Budget Request
Honoring the nation's commitment to care for the newest generation of
combat veterans and service members from other conflicts and eras,
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake announced today
President Bush is seeking a budget of $93.7 billion in fiscal year 2009
for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), with health care and
disability compensation for veterans targeted for most of the spending.

Medical Care
The President's 2009 request includes total budgetary resources of
$41.2
billion for VA medical care, an increase of $2.3 billion over the 2008
budget. VA's total medical care request is comprised of funding for
medical services ($34.08 billion), medical facilities ($4.66 billion),
and resources from medical care collections ($2.47 billion).

The budget will provide resources to treat nearly 5.8 million patients,
including about 3.9 million veterans who are VA's highest priority
patients-veterans returning from service in Operation Iraqi Freedom
(OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), veterans with
service-connected disabilities, those with lower incomes, and veterans
with special health care needs.

VA will treat about 333,000 OIF/OEF veterans in 2009, a 14 percent
increase over the estimated 2008 figure. Medical care funding for
these
patients will climb to nearly $1.3 billion in 2009, or 21 percent more
than in 2008.

The budget will provide resources for VA to virtually eliminate the
patient waiting list by the end of 2009.

VA will be able to continue to provide timely, accessible, and
high-quality health care that sets the national standard of excellence
for the health care industry. For the 8th consecutive year, customer
satisfaction with VA's health care system in 2007 was higher than the
private sector. Patients at VA medical centers recorded a satisfaction
level of 83 out of possible 100 points, or 6 points higher than the
private-sector health care industry.

Resources for mental health care will reach $3.9 billion in 2009. This
is $319 million (or 9 percent) above the 2008 level and will strengthen
efforts to ensure VA provides equitable access throughout the nation
for
veterans with mental health disorders.

VA is requesting $762 million in 2009 for non-institutional long-term
care, an increase of 28 percent over 2008. This will allow veterans to
receive extended care services in the most clinically appropriate
setting and in the comfort and familiar settings of their homes. The
number of patients receiving this type of care, as measured by the
average daily census, is expected to reach 61,000, or 38 percent higher
than the estimated level for 2008.

Resources in 2009 for the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the VA
(CHAMPVA) will total just over $1 billion. CHAMPVA allows VA to
provide
health benefits for the dependents and survivors of veterans who are,
or
were at time of death, 100 percent permanently and totally disabled
from
a service-connected disability, or who died from a service-connected
condition.

VA's medical care request includes nearly $1.5 billion to support the
increasing workload associated with the purchase and repair of
prosthetics and sensory aids to improve veterans' quality of life,
including those returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is
10 percent above the funding level in 2008.

VA's 2009 budget includes $83 million (or 19 percent more than in 2008)
for facility activations where needed to purchase equipment and
supplies
for newly constructed and leased buildings as VA completes projects
from
the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) program.

The budget also provides funding for investments in VA's capital
infrastructure including the continued development of new hospitals in
Orlando, Fla. ($120 million) and Denver ($20 million), and beginning
three new projects to enhance mental health and polytrauma care at the
Palo Alto, Calif. ($38 million), Bay Pines, Fla. ($17 million) and
Tampa, Fla. ($21 million) medical centers.

The Department will expand its telehealth program which is a critical
component to improve access to health care for veterans living in rural
and remote areas.

Medical Research
VA is requesting $442 million to support the medical and prosthetic
research program, which would fund nearly 2,000 high-priority research
projects expanding knowledge in areas critical to veterans' health care
needs, most notably research in mental illness ($53 million), aging
($45
million), health services delivery improvement ($39 million), cancer
($37 million), and heart disease ($33 million).

One of VA's highest priorities in 2009 will be to continue an
aggressive
research program to improve the lives of veterans returning from
service
in OIF and OEF. The 2009 budget provides $252 million devoted to
research projects focused specifically on veterans returning from
service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Benefits
Disability compensation payments will be made to 234,000 more
service-disabled veterans and their survivors in 2009 than were made in
2007. Total disability compensation payments will increase by $6
billion.

Vocational rehabilitation and employment benefits for service-disabled
veterans will increase by $14 million in 2009.

Resources requested in the budget will allow VA to improve the
timeliness with which compensation and pension claims are processed --
average days to process these claims will be 145 days, a 21 percent
improvement in timeliness over 2007. The number of claims processed
will grow to over 940,000, an increase of 14 percent from 2007.

The number of pending claims for compensation and pension benefits will
fall to 298,000 by the end of 2009, or 24 percent below 2007.

Timeliness will improve for original education claims from 32 days in
2007 to 19 days in 2009. The time it takes to process supplemental
education claims will also improve, from 13 days in 2007 to 10 days in
2009.

In 2009, VA and the Department of Defense will complete the pilot of a
new disability evaluation system for wounded warriors at major medical
facilities in the Washington, D.C., area. This initiative is designed
to eliminate the duplicative and often confusing elements of the
current
disability process of the two departments. The pilot will include one
medical examination according to VA protocols and a single disability
rating determined by VA.

The budget proposal includes $35.9 million to provide specially adapted
housing grants to severely disabled veterans and service members,
providing a barrier-free living environment that affords them a level
of
independent living they may not otherwise enjoy.

Memorial Affairs
The President's 2009 budget request for VA includes $181 million in
operations and maintenance funding for the National Cemetery
Administration, which is 71 percent above the resources available to
the
department's memorial affairs program when the President took office.

Resources are included in the 2009 budget request to allow VA to
continue daily operations and to begin interment activities at six new
national cemeteries -- Bakersfield, Calif.; Birmingham, Ala.;
Columbia-Greenville, S.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Sarasota, Fla.; and
southeastern Pennsylvania.

Major construction funding of $105 million will support the
Department's
burial program in 2009, including resources for gravesite expansion and
cemetery improvement projects at three national cemeteries -- New York
(Calverton, $29 million); Massachusetts ($20.5 million); and Puerto
Rico
($33.9 million).

VA will expand access to its burial program by increasing the percent
of
veterans served by a national or state veterans cemetery within 75
miles
of their residence to 88 percent in 2009. That's a 4.6 percentage
point
increase above the performance level at the close of 2007.

VA expects to perform 111,000 interments in 2009 - 11 percent more than
the interments performed in 2007.

VA will continue to increase the percent of respondents who rate the
quality of service provided by national cemeteries as excellent to 98
percent in 2009 - 4 percentage points higher than the level of
performance reached in 2007.

Information Technology
The President's 2009 budget provides more than $2.4 billion for the
Department's IT program. This is $389 million (19 percent) above the
2008 budget, and reflects the realignment of all IT operations and
functions under the control of the Chief Information Officer.

The IT consolidation has given VA the opportunity to look at all
aspects
of the "State of VA IT" and to support efforts to provide improved,
standardized IT services, leading to consistency and dependability
across the Department. In some cases, this will involve shoring up
areas which have suffered from neglect in the past.

IT is critical to the timely, accessible delivery of high-quality
benefits and services to veterans and their families. It is vital that
VA receives a significant infusion of new resources to implement new
systems and upgrades to existing systems, which have a direct impact on
the medical care of veterans, the quality and safety of that care, and
the underpinning IT infrastructure that makes health care delivery
possible.

The 2009 budget request contains $93 million in support of the
Department's cyber security program to continue the commitment to make
VA the gold standard in data security within the federal government.

VA is seeking $284 million in 2009 for development and implementation
of
the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture
(HealtheVet-VistA) program. This includes a health data repository, a
patient scheduling system, and a reengineered pharmacy application.
These applications are directly tied to programs which are intended to
enhance or replace existing programs already serving patients.

The budget proposal includes $23.8 million in 2009 to complete the
transition of compensation and pension payment processing from the
current system to VETsNET, enhancing claims processing efficiency and
accuracy, strengthening payment integrity and fraud prevention, and
positioning VA to develop future claims processing efficiencies via our
Paperless Claim Processing Initiative, an important component of the
recommendations presented in the Dole-Shalala Commission report to
support the nation's wounded warriors.



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