mr. bertoni. i think it would be good if you could assess this for us on some kind of periodic basis, just to give us some indication that progress is, in fact, being made. it would be terribly unfortunate if we showed up in six months and nothing is happening. and that would be terribly unfortunate. so that would be my individual requests. the chair runs the committee. but it would be something that i certainly would like to see. >> and we have been in this mix since it was a tabletop exercise in 2007. i have testified numerous times on multiple products. it would be worse i think if we weren't in there. and i think in regard to your issue of diagnostic differences, two years ago, we said this was an issue. it could be problematic in terms of treatment of service members in terms of backlogs of the cases. if you have a diagnostic difference, you have to keep going back, new exams you. get caught on this medical exam hamster wheel. you have to do it all over again. we ask that this issue should be

mr. bertoni, let me just ask you a very, very direct question. how long is it going to take -- one year, two years, five years -- to actually see progress to meeting these goals? >> i can't give you a specific time frame. i would say that one thing that the services and v.a. are dealing with is enrollments are up significantly, doubling each year. 2009 there were 4,000 enrollments. 2010 about 9,000. and last year 19,000. so we have multitudes coming into this program very rapidly, and that's going to increase going further. so they really do need to continually look at their processes and look for streamlining opportunities. we have said all along they need to get their staff-to-service member ratios aligned with what they think they need to be doing. again, automation. you can leverage so much with automation accounts for many people. there are things in play. they must continue to look at what they're doing and to look for efficiencies. and to their credit, more recent data in the med phase shows that data is trending more positively over the l

mr. bertoni. we have been talking about this for about five years. obviously, it's not an easy issue or it would be done already. by the same token, maybe we ought to get the committee on military affairs in here. you are here, dr. rooney. to put the pressure on the d.o.d. as we put pressure on the v.a. to make sure they are going their job. let me give you a quick statistic. secretary mentioned his goal for disability compensation and pension plans is 125 days, 98% accuracy. right now, according to the report mr. bertoni put out, it's 394 days and 79% accurate. we have an issue here. the reason i know we have an issue is i have veterans calling me all the time. it's too complicated. they don't know how to get through it. the folk that is serve this country deserve better. we have to get it right. i don't think ids is doing it correctly. i look forward to you correcting me. the bottom line is, what this committee does is important but what's more important is the services we get to the vets. they have earned that help and they need to get it now. tha

mr. bertoni. >> chairman murray, good morning. i'm pleased to discuss the department of defense to improve the performance of the evaluation system. since it started, we have monitored the evolution of this process. my statement today is based on the ongoing work for this committee and focuses on ides meeting goals and performance. in summery, overall time has worsened with the average number of days for claims to 394 days last year. it is well above the stated goal of 295 days. during the same period, the active duty cases decreased from 63% to 19%. with the exception of the physical evaluation phase, we fell short with the medical evaluation board, transition to benefits phases. in 2011, only 20% of active duty cases met the targeted goal of obtaining a decision. v.a. assessed service member satisfaction in surveys. computing average scores of satisfaction. in fact, using an alternative calculation that eliminates mutual responses, we found satisfaction rates lower in d.o.d. reports. they have under taken a number of actions. ma

mr. daniel bertony, director of educati education, work force and income security issues. i want to thank each of you for joining us this morning and look forward to hearing your testimony. your remarks will appear, of course, in the record. dr. rooney, we will begin wie you. with you. >> thank you. good morning, chairman, ranking member and members of the committee. it is my pleasure to be here today to testify on current efforts focused on reviewing and improving the integrated disability evaluation system, or iides. i am pleased to appear with my partners. we are working closely together to provide an integrated seamless process for wounded, ill or injured service members as they transition to veteran status. taking care of our service members is the absolute highest priority of the department of defense. part of taking care of our service members includes ensuring they're honorable service is recognized and they are compensated in both d.o.d. and v.a. systems for injuries and illnesses incurred during that service. the department is undertaken many initiatives to accom

i just wrap up my questions with a request to mr bertoni. i think it would be good if you could assess this for us in some kind of periodic basis. just give us some indication that progress is in fact being made. it would be terribly unfortunate if we showed up in six months and nothing is happening and that would be terribly unfortunate. that would be my individual request. the chair runs the committee. that is something we would like to see. >> we have been in this makes sense it was an exercise in 2007. i have testified on multiple product. it would be worth it if we are not in there. in reference to your issue of diagnostic differences two years ago this was an issue it could be problematic in terms of service members and backlogs of cases. if you have a diagnostic difference you keep going back to do exams and get caught on this hamster wheel. you have to do it over again. we ask that this issue be looked at. it didn't do what we thought should be done. what should have been done is what you are doing now. the extent of nature and exten