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Army Assesses Care Expansion

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2008

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - In a rush to correct reports of substandard care for wounded soldiers, the Army flung open the doors of new specialized treatment centers so wide that up to half the soldiers currently enrolled do not have injuries serious enough to justify being there, The Associated Press has learned.
Army leaders are putting in place stricter screening procedures to stem the flood of patients overwhelming the units - a move that will target some for closure.

The Warrior Transition Units provide coordinated medical and mental health care, track soldiers' recovery and offer broader legal, financial and other family counseling.

Just 12 percent of the soldiers in the units had battlefield injuries while thousands of others had minor problems that did not require the complex network of case managers, nurses and doctors, said Brig. Gen. Gary H. Cheek, director of the Army's warrior care office.

The overcrowding was a "self-inflicted wound," said Cheek, also an assistant surgeon general. "We're dedicating this kind of oversight and management where, truthfully, only half of those soldiers really needed this."

By restricting use of the coordinated care units to soldiers with more complex, long-term ailments, the Army hopes in the long run to close or consolidate as many as 10 of the transition units, Cheek said. The list of potential closings include units at Fort Rucker and Redstone Arsenal, in Alabama; Fort Leavenworth in Kansas; Fort Dix in New Jersey; and Fort Irwin in California.

The expansion came in the wake of reports about poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., including shoddy housing and bureaucratic delays for outpatients there.

The Army's goal now, as spelled out in a recent briefing given to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, is to screen out those who do not need the expanded care program, shifting them to regular medical facilities at their military base or near their homes.

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