Improving Performance in the Integrated Disability Evaluation System
Author: John E. Kent
Publisher:
Published: 2011
Total Pages: 31
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) instituted a jointly managed disability evaluation process. This process began as the Disability Evaluation System Pilot (DES-P), initiated in the National Capitol Region (NCR), which eventually expanded to 27 sites. The pilot was declared a success and is now being rolled out world-wide as the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES). In the departments' joint report to Congress dated August 31, 2010, the pilot was described as a success. However, the data in the report illustrates that process time has increased consistently since February 2010. Further, while 10,025 Army Soldiers entered the process by January 2011, only 26% had completed the process. Failing to address declining performance impacts the Army's population of medically non-deployable Soldiers and thus medical readiness and the Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN). This paper proposes a more comprehensive data driven performance management system for the execution of the IDES program. The paper also presents metrics to monitor work in process as well as completed work and proposes automation system changes to better monitor performance and respond to surges for both the VA and DOD partners.