The PACT Act is all the buzz right now in the world of Veterans Affairs and for good reason – it's only the largest health care and benefit expansion in VA history.
NO BIG DEAL. Just kidding - it’s a HUGE deal.
But what is the PACT Act and why should these changes matter to our nation’s Veterans? Keep reading.
Signed into law August 10th, 2022, the PACT Act is a law that expands VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances. This law encompasses our courageous war heroes who served in the Vietnam War, Gulf War, and post-9/11 eras giving generations of Veterans the proper benefits and care they deserve. Further, the law will consider these conditions as ‘presumptive’, meaning Veterans don’t need to prove that the service caused the condition. Veterans only need to meet the service requirements.
However, if you thought getting this bill passed was the most difficult part of the process – think again. Although millions of Veterans and lobbyists have been dreaming about this magic moment, the truth of the matter is, now the hard work really begins.
The law was passed on August 10th, which means now a flood of millions of Veterans across the nation are filing claims into a computer system that also needs to have the capability of sorting, processing, and filing these claims into actual benefits and Veteran care. The VA estimates that these benefits will cost around $300 billion over the next 10 years, but thankfully lawmakers anticipated this surge in claims processing when preparing this act. Within the PACT Act lawmakers included mechanisms for the VA to increase the workforce and enhance claims processing so they can stay on top of this influx of new claims and Veteran care.
A few ways VA can handle this influx is through Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and other automation technologies. Through a contract with the VA Office of Community Care (OCC) InnoVet has deployed automation where we support the automatic retrieval of consult reports and closing of open consults.
We believe similar automation systems will help the VA in their automation efforts as they prepare to streamline their processes in anticipation of the new PACT Act to take full force. But InnoVet Health, like the rest of the nation, will be watching and waiting to see how this act takes shape in the upcoming months.
- Omar Bouhaddou, PhD (Co-Founder & CHIO of InnoVet Health)
InnoVet Health is an IT consultant company specializing in business intelligence, digital services, and health interoperability founded by MIT-alumni & informatics experts. Learn more about us on our website or reach out on LinkedIn.
Driving modernization and improving healthcare for our nation's Veterans.