![](media/image1.jpeg){width="6.371527777777778in"
height="0.9763888888888889in"}

> February 4, 2008
>
> **FY '09 VA Budget Request**
>
> Honoring the nation's commitment to care for the newest generation of
> combat veterans and service members from other conflicts and eras,
> Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake announced today
> President Bush is seeking a budget of \$93.7 billion in fiscal year
> 2009 for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), with health care and
> disability compensation for veterans targeted for most of the
> spending.

**[Medical Care]{.underline}**

-   The President's 2009 request includes total budgetary resources of
    \$41.2 billion for VA medical care, an increase of \$2.3 billion
    over the 2008 budget. VA's total medical care request is comprised
    of funding for medical services (\$34.08 billion), medical
    facilities (\$4.66 billion), and resources from medical care
    collections (\$2.47 billion).

-   The budget will provide resources to treat nearly 5.8 million
    patients, including about 3.9 million veterans who are VA's highest
    priority patients---veterans returning from service in Operation
    Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), veterans
    with service-connected disabilities, those with lower incomes, and
    veterans with special health care needs.

-   VA will treat about 333,000 OIF/OEF veterans in 2009, a 14 percent
    increase over the estimated 2008 figure. Medical care funding for
    these patients will climb to nearly \$1.3 billion in 2009, or 21
    percent more than in 2008.

-   The budget will provide resources for VA to virtually eliminate the
    patient waiting list by the end of 2009.

-   VA will be able to continue to provide timely, accessible, and
    high-quality health care that sets the national standard of
    excellence for the health care industry. For the 8^th^ consecutive
    year, customer satisfaction with VA's health care system in 2007 was
    higher than the private sector. Patients at VA medical centers
    recorded a satisfaction level of 83 out of possible 100 points, or 6
    points higher than the private-sector health care industry.

**- More -**

**Budget Highlights 2/2/2/2**

-   Resources for mental health care will reach \$3.9 billion in 2009.
    This is \$319 million (or 9 percent) above the 2008 level and will
    strengthen efforts to ensure VA provides equitable access throughout
    the nation for veterans with mental health disorders.

-   VA is requesting \$762 million in 2009 for non-institutional
    long-term care, an increase of 28 percent over 2008. This will allow
    veterans to receive extended care services in the most clinically
    appropriate setting and in the comfort and familiar settings of
    their homes. The number of patients receiving this type of care, as
    measured by the average daily census, is expected to reach 61,000,
    or 38 percent higher than the estimated level for 2008.

-   Resources in 2009 for the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the
    VA (CHAMPVA) will total just over \$1 billion. CHAMPVA allows VA to
    provide health benefits for the dependents and survivors of veterans
    who are, or were at time of death, 100 percent permanently and
    totally disabled from a service-connected disability, or who died
    from a service-connected condition.

-   VA's medical care request includes nearly \$1.5 billion to support
    the increasing workload associated with the purchase and repair of
    prosthetics and sensory aids to improve veterans' quality of life,
    including those returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. This
    is 10 percent above the funding level in 2008.

-   VA's 2009 budget includes \$83 million (or 19 percent more than
    in 2008) for facility activations where needed to purchase equipment
    and supplies for newly constructed and leased buildings as VA
    completes projects from the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced
    Services (CARES) program.

-   The budget also provides funding for investments in VA's capital
    infrastructure including the continued development of new hospitals
    in Orlando, Fla. (\$120 million) and Denver (\$20 million), and
    beginning three new projects to enhance mental health and polytrauma
    care at the Palo Alto, Calif. (\$38 million), Bay Pines, Fla. (\$17
    million) and Tampa, Fla. (\$21 million) medical centers.

-   The Department will expand its telehealth program which is a
    critical component to improve access to health care for veterans
    living in rural and remote areas.

**[Medical Research]{.underline}**

-   VA is requesting \$442 million to support the medical and prosthetic
    research program, which would fund nearly 2,000 high-priority
    research projects expanding knowledge in areas critical to veterans'
    health care needs, most notably research in mental illness (\$53
    million), aging (\$45 million), health services delivery improvement
    (\$39 million), cancer (\$37 million), and heart disease (\$33
    million).

> **Budget Highlights 3/3/3/3**

-   One of VA's highest priorities in 2009 will be to continue an
    aggressive research program to improve the lives of veterans
    returning from service in OIF and OEF. The 2009 budget provides
    \$252 million devoted to research projects focused specifically on
    veterans returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

**[Benefits]{.underline}**

-   Disability compensation payments will be made to 234,000 more
    service-disabled veterans and their survivors in 2009 than were made
    in 2007. Total disability compensation payments will increase by \$6
    billion.

-   Vocational rehabilitation and employment benefits for
    service-disabled veterans will increase by \$14 million in 2009.

-   Resources requested in the budget will allow VA to improve the
    timeliness with which compensation and pension claims are processed
    \-- average days to process these claims will be 145 days, a 21
    percent improvement in timeliness over 2007. The number of claims
    processed will grow to over 940,000, an increase of 14 percent from
    2007.

-   The number of pending claims for compensation and pension benefits
    will fall to 298,000 by the end of 2009, or 24 percent below 2007.

-   Timeliness will improve for original education claims from 32 days
    in 2007 to 19 days in 2009. The time it takes to process
    supplemental education claims will also improve, from 13 days in
    2007 to 10 days in 2009.

-   In 2009, VA and the Department of Defense will complete the pilot of
    a new disability evaluation system for wounded warriors at major
    medical facilities in the Washington, D.C., area. This initiative is
    designed to eliminate the duplicative and often confusing elements
    of the current disability process of the two departments. The pilot
    will include one medical examination according to VA protocols and a
    single disability rating determined by VA.

-   The budget proposal includes \$35.9 million to provide specially
    adapted housing grants to severely disabled veterans and service
    members, providing a barrier-free living environment that affords
    them a level of independent living they may not otherwise enjoy.

**[Memorial Affairs]{.underline}**

-   The President's 2009 budget request for VA includes \$181 million in
    operations and maintenance funding for the National Cemetery
    Administration, which is 71 percent above the resources available to
    the department's memorial affairs program when the President took
    office.

**Budget Highlights 4/4/4/4**

-   Resources are included in the 2009 budget request to allow VA to
    continue daily operations and to begin interment activities at six
    new national cemeteries \-- Bakersfield, Calif.; Birmingham, Ala.;
    Columbia-Greenville, S.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Sarasota, Fla.; and
    southeastern Pennsylvania.

-   Major construction funding of \$105 million will support the
    Department's burial program in 2009, including resources for
    gravesite expansion and cemetery improvement projects at three
    national cemeteries \-- New York (Calverton, \$29 million);
    Massachusetts (\$20.5 million); and Puerto Rico (\$33.9 million).

-   VA will expand access to its burial program by increasing the
    percent of veterans served by a national or state veterans cemetery
    within 75 miles of their residence to 88 percent in 2009. That's a
    4.6 percentage point increase above the performance level at the
    close of 2007.

-   VA expects to perform 111,000 interments in 2009 -- 11 percent more
    than the interments performed in 2007.

-   VA will continue to increase the percent of respondents who rate the
    quality of service provided by national cemeteries as excellent to
    98 percent in 2009 -- 4 percentage points higher than the level of
    performance reached in 2007.

**[Information Technology]{.underline}**

-   The President's 2009 budget provides more than \$2.4 billion for the
    Department's IT program. This is \$389 million (19 percent) above
    the 2008 budget, and reflects the realignment of all IT operations
    and functions under the control of the Chief Information Officer.

-   The IT consolidation has given VA the opportunity to look at all
    aspects of the "State of VA IT" and to support efforts to provide
    improved, standardized IT services, leading to consistency and
    dependability across the Department. In some cases, this will
    involve shoring up areas which have suffered from neglect in the
    past.

-   IT is critical to the timely, accessible delivery of high-quality
    benefits and services to veterans and their families. It is vital
    that VA receives a significant infusion of new resources to
    implement new systems and upgrades to existing systems , which have
    a direct impact on the medical care of veterans, the quality and
    safety of that care, and the underpinning IT infrastructure that
    makes health care delivery possible.

-   The 2009 budget request contains \$93 million in support of the
    Department's cyber security program to continue the commitment to
    make VA the gold standard in data security within the Federal
    government.

**Budget Highlights 5/5/5/5**

-   VA is seeking \$284 million in 2009 for development and
    implementation of the Veterans Health Information Systems and
    Technology Architecture (Health*e*Vet-VistA) program. This includes
    a health data repository, a patient scheduling system, and a
    reengineered pharmacy application. These applications are directly
    tied to programs which are intended to enhance or replace existing
    programs already serving patients.

-   The budget proposal includes \$23.8 million in 2009 to complete the
    transition of compensation and pension payment processing from the
    current system to VETsNET, enhancing claims processing efficiency
    and accuracy, strengthening payment integrity and fraud prevention,
    and positioning VA to develop future claims processing efficiencies
    via our Paperless Claim Processing Initiative; an important
    component of the recommendations presented in the Dole-Shalala
    Commission report to support the nation's wounded warriors.

> \# \# \#