dr. satele? >> thank you, mr. chairman. and committee for the invitation to be here. my name is sally satele. i'm a psychiatrist who formerly worked at a va in west haven connecticut and now i'm a resident scholar at the american enterprise institute. in the current testimony as we've seen and as we've been discussing, a veteran can testify disability compensation, excuse me, for a psychiatric condition that's never been treated. a straightforward approach to bridging this gap and the kind that general scott has been focusing on is an urge, of course, to urge vdbc so claimants are referred to treatment. while it's a definite advantage over current practice does not address the timing issue. that is whether veterans necessarily benefit when the disability claims process can precede care and that's what i want to focus on now. we have to consider the fact that compensation before care, that kind of a sequence of granting disability claims before a veteran has been treated can sometimes have signi

dr. sally satele, president, resident scholar at the american enterprise institute and we thank you all forth us here today. let's begin with dr. seal. you're recognized. >> first, i just want to recognize mr. hanson for his bravy and courage coming forward to tell his story which, you know, as a clinician at the va i hear weekly and it motivates me to do the job that i do. it also motivates us at va to figure out how we can better individualize treatment so i just wanted to acknowledge and that thank him very much. good morning, mr. chairman miller, ranking member filner and members of the committee. thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify today. >> i will begin by placing my comments in context. i'm a primary care internist based at one va facility, the san francisco va medical center. in this capacity, i direct the integrated care clinic for oef veterans. the clinic at the san francisco va medical center is novel in that it offers all new oef veterans a one-stop three-part initial visit with a primary care provider, a mental health clinician and a social worker. the integrated