NEWS for VETERANS VA secretary recommends “no appeal” on Blue Water Navy decision n Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie testified before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee in March that the VA would not be recommending a Supreme Court review on the precedential decision in Procopio v. Wilkie. Procopio v. Wilkie—the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit case that determined Blue Water Navy veterans are eligible for presumptive exposure to Agent Orange benefits— could extend benefits to Vietnam veterans who served on ships within 12 nautical miles offshore during the war. USS Inchon (LPH-12) anchored in Haiphong In October 2018, the Chairman of the Board of Veterans’ Harbor, North Vietnam, on June 20, 1973. (Photo by PHCS Virgil O. McColley/U.S. Navy/Naval Appeals issued a memorandum placing a stay on the History and Heritage Command collections) adjudication of all appeals for benefits based on exposure to Agent Orange in the waters offshore of Vietnam. On April 1, 2019, the chairman of the board lifted the stay, allowing those appeals to move forward. At the time of this publishing, no appeal had been made. The deadline for an appeal is April 29, 2019. For the most current updates, follow facebook.com/DAV and twitter.com/DAVHQ. Executive order signed to combat veteran suicide n In March, the president signed an executive order aiming to reduce the number of suicides among veterans. The order, known as the President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide, or PREVENTS, creates a high-level task force to develop research strategies and plans to prevent veteran suicide and provide grants for communities across the country that may have a large veteran population. “Answering this call to action requires an aspirational, innovative, all-hands-on-deck approach to public health, not government as usual. The federal government alone cannot achieve effective or lasting reductions in the veteran suicide rate,” the order states. According to the White House, the task force will develop a public health road map that will include a national research strategy for studying suicide risk factors and intervention efforts, as well as proposals for equipping states and communities with the resources needed to undertake suicide prevention and quality-of-life initiatives for former service members. If you are having thoughts of suicide, there is help. Call the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255. 22 DAV MAGAZINE | MAY/JUNE 2019 Apple Inc. teaming with VA to give veterans easier access to health records n Veterans may soon be able to access their health records on their iPhones, utilizing encrypted health records synchronization currently in use in some private health care companies and doctors offices. According to a joint statement from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Apple Inc., the Health Records app—already included with every iPhone—will be able to sync certain types of medical records, typically available on the VA’s online portal My HealtheVet. Veterans who opt in to the service will have an integrated snapshot of their health records from their VA providers pertaining to allergies, test results, medications, service-connected conditions and more on their Apple device. To add their VA records to the app, veterans will need to sign in using their VA credentials, similar to how they currently log on to the My HealtheVet website. Health Records on iPhone would be the first record-sharing platform of its kind available to the VA, enabling veterans to keep most of their medical records in one location. DAV.ORG
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VA secretary recommends “no appeal” on Blue Water Navy decision
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Executive order signed to combat veteran suicide
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Apple Inc. teaming with VA to give veterans easier access to health records
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