| Army Looks to Ensure Consistent PTSD Diagnosis By Rob McIlvaine WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2012 – The Army is investigating how post-traumatic stress disorder is diagnosed to ensure consistency at all hospitals, the service’s surgeon general told Congress yesterday. Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho and the surgeons general from the Air Force and Navy testified at a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee. Honcho addressed concerns over closure of the intensive outpatient center at Madigan Army Medical Center on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., reportedly because the staff concluded too often that patents suffered from PTSD. She said she has launched an investigation to look into the variance of behavioral health diagnoses at Madigan, and to investigate why the intensive outpatient center was closed, whether undo command influence contributed to the closure, and whether patients were negatively affected. \r “Having said that, we are going to investigate to make sure that’s actually true and that we’re providing the best care to our service members,” she said. She denied that the Army is pressing medical personnel to ensure soldiers return to duty. When the disability evaluator was unsure of whether the patient suffered from PTSD, she explained, he would refer the case to forensic psychiatry, and the diagnosis would then be made using administrative data without a patient encounter.That’s not the way PTSD diagnoses are made across Army Medicine, Horocho said, and she wants to ensure no Madigan patients were put at a disadvantage. “Our commitment,” she told the subcommittee, “is to ensure we optimize the delivery of health services to ensure our medical support to each of our services while reducing redundancy by maintaining unity of effort and focusing on health.” The recent merger of the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., was another topic at the hearing. \r “I recognize that we are in somewhat unchartered waters, as we say in the Navy, as we look for new footing and a new landscape to find a governance structure that will accommodate these efficiencies and these transparencies and at the same time preserve the amazing combat warfighter support that has been evident over this last decade, resulting in the greatest survival rates and the lowest disease nonbattle injury rate in military history,” Nathan said. —— MilitaryConnection.com thanks you for your patronage. This web site is a portal of all things military, and we are quickly becoming the “go to” web site for all things military. We are constantly adding resources, content and features to benefit our audience. Our web site and all of the resources are free to users, and there is something for everyone. Additionally, we feature articles like this to keep you informed. If you belong to a group or organization, we will post your press releases, special events, newsletters, professional conferences and seminars, reunions, job fairs, and videos to help spread the word. One of the areas of our focus is connecting candidates from the military community with outstanding government and civilian employers. We know that candidates from the military community across the board have a work ethic second to none. They make highly valued employees. MilitaryConnection.com has a multitude of employment resources including a Directory of over 30,000 employers, Job Tips, Columns, our new and improved Job Board, Virtual Job Fair and much more. We understand the importance of education. Please check out our new Education section, featuring the most up to date information on the new GI Bill, Education Articles, Education Benefits, and the Scholarship Directory featuring thousands of scholarships. When the next tour is back home, it’s on MilitaryConnection.com. |