Veteran Centric Reform
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Veteran Centric Reform
The Government is making a significant investment in transforming veteran
services. As part of the 2017
–
18 Budget, the Government is investing in
Veteran Centric Reform to provide the veteran community with a greater
standard of service through reform of business processes and culture,
identification and implementation of government-endorsed best practice
service options and targeted ICT redevelopment.
Why is this important?
New clients of
the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA)
expect to receive
personalised services that are connected across government and simple to
access. They expect that their families will also receive appropriate services.
DVA operations and infrastructure are no longer fit for purpose as current
business systems are claims based, requiring the veteran to approach the
Department, and lack the information sharing and data analysis necessary to
meet veter
ans’ expectations of a quality service.
Without change, some veterans may continue to be disengaged from DVA
services, which can inhibit a successful transition from the Australian
Defence Force and lead to poor health and life outcomes.
Veteran Centric Reform aligns with broader government reform agendas by
leveraging the Department of Human Services’ ICT capabilities, particularly
improvements driven by the Welfare Payment Infrastructure Transformation
program and other relevant government ICT programs.
Who will benefit?
Veteran Centric Reform is about providing veterans and their families with
easier access to support.
Veteran Centric Reform will achieve: simpler, better, digitally enhanced
experiences for clients when they interact with DVA; early intervention and
preventive health care, enabling clients to live healthy and productive lives;
access to early treatment for physical and mental health issues to prevent
these problems becoming more acute later in life; and an ICT platform that
mitigates
risk and improves DVA’s service delivery
.
How much will the Veteran Centric Reform program cost?
The 2017
–
18 Budget has provided funding of $166.6 million for Veteran
Centric Reform, including for proactive interventions and cyber security.
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Veteran Centric Reform
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proactive interventions
Veteran Centric Reform
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The Government is providing funding to implement a suite of proactive
interventions to deliver targeted assistance that will
support veterans to lead
healthy and productive lives.
Why is this important?
By joining together the information held by the DVA, and looking at it in a new
way, the Department will be able to provide services to veterans earlier than
it has in the past.
This measure will deliver targeted assistance to veterans and their families to
lead healthy and productive lives.
1.
DVA will consider veterans’ needs by analysing the services they access
through the Department, from car bookings through to health and
rehabilitation services, to understand which policies, programs and early
interventions are most in demand.
2.
Building on the work of the Government’s Behavioural Economics Team,
DVA will implement a two-year pilot of behaviour-informed design and trial
small-scale policy interventions to evaluate different approaches to
veteran support.
3. Taking the insights provided through proactive interventions 1 and 2
above, DVA will implement a framework to actively manage the
assistance provided to veterans. The framework will provide real-time
assessment of the effects of these initiatives so DVA can proactively alter
support arrangements to better meet the needs of clients.
4. DVA will implement a two-year trial to provide veterans with access to
medical treatment for specified conditions while their claim under the
Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (MRCA) and the
Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (SRCA)
is being
processed.
Who will benefit?
These initiatives will support DVA clients, with a focus particularly on younger
veterans.
DVA will analyse and evaluate individual veteran needs, and test and trial
different approaches that are responsive and targeted to better support them
in the future.
Providing early access to treatment services, before a claim is determined,
will avoid further deterioration in a medical condition and aid in recovery
outcomes. It will also improve social outcomes, particularly during transition
from the Australian Defence Force to civilian life.
Veteran Centric Reform
–
mitigation of cyber
security risk
Veteran Centric Reform
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This measure will provide funding to mitigate risks associated with cyber
security threats to DVA systems.
Why is this important?
The Australian Government Protective Security Policy Framework
recommends upgrading to newer operating systems should be a high priority,
particularly for computers which are running significantly out-of-date versions.
The outdated technology currently underpinning DVA business systems is at
risk of cyber security attacks.
Mitigating the cyber security risk of this legacy equipment will enhance the
protection and confidentiality of veterans’ records and payments. It will also
improve compliance with the Australian Signals Directorate’s Top 4 cyber
security mitigation strategies.
Who will benefit?
The information DVA holds about all clients will be better protected as a
result of this measure.