Hello everybody - Intro and Question for members!

SilverLining

PEB Forum Regular Member
Registered Member
Hey everybody, I have a genuine question that I'd like to poll the members of this forum on, but I'm not sure where the appropriate place to do that is, it may very well be here! I'm not trying to advertise or spam, so let me give you some context as to my story, then maybe someone can point me in the right direction, or just leave the post here -


Back in 2009-2011 I was serving at NNMC Bethesda (yes, before the BRAC) in the USN as a Corpsman. I started out doing wound care and found myself in admin after that rotation was up until the remainder of my time in Bethesda. The department I ended up in, MPPD, was the department that processed IDES cases and eventually took them down the PEB at the Navy Yard. I happened to be there during the IDES Pilot process, and then saw it become the new way of doing things. Honestly, I thought it was a game-changer for service members with service connected disabilities. At any rate, I quickly found myself the LPO of said department, and wound up being an SME on the IDES in general and helped a lot of good service members through the process. During my time there I couldn't believe there wasn't much in place from the DoD in terms of tracking and reporting on these cases (when I got there, Bethesda was using spreadsheets and a SharePoint site), they also used some disparate tracking systems that are probably still in use, like MEDBOLTS and VTA, and so I developed a local application enabling PEBLO's to track and follow cases, and for leadership to report on them. I didn't really get to do what I ultimately wanted to do and make it more broadly available because I left that post, and honestly didn't really have an idea how to do that back then.

Fast forward to now, and winding up with a successful career in tech - after doing research every so often to see if the DoD had done anything to solve the technology problem that existed for the IDES process, I started a company a couple of years ago to address the problem. I was kind of dumbfounded that after 10 years, the problem still seemed like it existed like it did when I was there, there still doesn't exist a globally available, reliable software for both PEBLO's and service members to utilize for the IDES process, much less the others involved in the process (I mean across all branches, I dealt with what the Army had when I was in, and it wasn't that great, nor was it "live data"). At any rate, after a long haul of going through the process of submitting an unsolicited proposal to the DHA to convince them this was something they needed, they ultimately declined and one of the things that I found particularly interesting was that they cited using a case management tool to solve their issue. My understanding is that is essentially what is being used by RCC's. I remember reading that they were investigating whether that was something that could work, but based on what I know and my experience, it would be easier (and faster) to build a separate solution for IDES and just integrate that RCC case management tool if they wanted to do so.

So, this brings me to my actual question for the members of this board - do you guys feel like things could be improved upon from a technical perspective for the IDES? Are you guys satisfied with whatever solution(s) currently exist? Does anyone know if they have implemented or starting using that case management tool? Most importantly though - Do you have somewhere to go at this point to know exactly where you are at in your case and know what you need to do next? I see below I can post a poll, but wanted to open up more of a dialogue, perhaps I'll do the poll after.

I appreciate any feedback, I really enjoyed my time as the LPO at MPPD Bethesda and found myself getting a lot of joy out of helping the members going through the process. I keep coming back to it for that reason. If I could do that again somehow on a broader scale, that would make my decade.

Very Respectfully,
Silver Lining
 
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