U.S. Department of Defense Disability Compensation Under a Fitness-for-Duty Evaluation Approach / STEPHANIE RENNANE, BETH J. ASCH, MICHAEL G. MATTOCK, HEATHER KRULL, DOUGLAS C. LIGOR, MICHAEL DWORSKY, JONAS KEMPF.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rennane, Stephanie.

Contributor:

Asch, Beth J.

Mattock, Michael G., 1961-

Krull, Heather

Ligor, Douglas C.

Dworsky, Michael

Kempf, Jonas

National Defense Research Institute (U.S.). Forces and Resources Policy Center.

Class of 1891 Department of Arts Fund.

Rand Corporation

United States. Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Manpower and Personnel Policy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Military pensions--United States.

Military pensions.

United States.

Disability evaluation--United States.

Disability evaluation.

Physical Description:

xxii, 146 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Other Title:

United States Department of Defense Disability Compensation Under a Fitness-for-Duty Evaluation Approach

Place of Publication:

Santa Monica, CA : RAND, 2022.

System Details:

Mode of access: internet via WWW.

Summary:

The joint U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)-Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Integrated Disability Evaluation System is the process by which DoD determines fitness for duty and separation or retirement of service members because of disability. Service members who are evaluated for disability undergo a comprehensive medical examination to document all medical conditions and receive a disability rating for every condition documented during the exam. DoD and the VA use these ratings to determine the amount of disability compensation service members receive if they are determined to be unfit to continue serving and consequently medically discharged. Proposals for reforming the DoD compensation system have been considered in the past, but a rigorous evaluation of what those alternatives might look like and how they would affect service member benefits and costs to DoD has not been conducted. In this report, the authors describe their evaluation of four hypothetical alternative disability compensation approaches that would support a simpler disability evaluation process: compensating based on the current objectives of the DoD system (and using current benefit formulas), compensating on the basis of a military career, compensating on the basis of unfitting conditions, or compensating similar to U.S. allies. Each alternative reduces reliance on disability ratings for determining DoD disability compensation and focuses primarily on a single decision about whether a service member is fit to perform his or her duties. The authors evaluate the potential effects of each alternative on service member compensation, processing times, end strength, lost skills and experience, and readiness.

Contents:

Chapter One: Introduction

Chapter Two: Overview of the Current Department of Defense Disability Compensation System

Chapter Three: Alternative Department of Defense Disability Compensation Systems

Chapter Four: Changes in Department of Defense Disability Compensation Under Alternatives

Chapter Five: Implications of a Fitness-for-Duty Evaluation System on Processing Time, End Strength, and Human Capital Loss

Chapter Six: Policy and Legislative Considerations

Chapter Seven: Additional Design Considerations

Appendix A: Prior Reform Proposals and Other Disability Compensation Systems

Appendix B: Analysis File Development on Medical Discharges

Appendix C: File Development for Analysis of Alternative 3

Appendix D: Policy and Legal Requirements

Appendix E: Additional Results for Alternative 1b, With and Without Combat-Related Special Compensation

Appendix F: Additional Results for Alternative 1 and 2, With and Without Combat- Related Special Compensation.

Notes:

Title from PDF document (title page; viewed January 28, 2022)

"Prepared for the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Services Policy and Oversight and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy"

"RAND NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH INSTITUTE"

Includes bibliographical references (pages 139-146)

Description based on electronic resource.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1891 Department of Arts Fund.

ISBN:

1977408001

9781977408006

OCLC:

1294427501