WASHINGTON — The PACT Act expands the list of presumptive illnesses -- including certain cancers, respiratory, and other afflictions -- that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) now automatically considers to be connected to military-related toxic exposures.
The White House announced in May that more than one million PACT Act claims have been granted since the bill was signed into law in 2022.
"And we're not going not stop until every one of you has the benefits and services that you've earned," said VA Secretary Denis McDonough, speaking earlier this year to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
More than 5 million veterans have received free screenings for toxic exposures from the VA under the PACT Act, a critical step to catching and treating potentially life-threatening health conditions as early as possible.
However, the VA Office of Inspector General has found that Veterans Health Administration leaders did not actively monitor toxic exposure screening training data to ensure VHA clinical staff completed training before screening veterans.
A new report says, "The OIG is concerned that low training compliance numbers indicates many of these veterans were likely screened by clinical staff who had not completed training."
The report concludes: "Failure to ensure training at the national level increases the possibility that staff members screened veterans for toxic exposures without sufficient education and skills, putting veterans at risk of receiving inaccurate or inadequate information on toxic exposures."