Veterans' Affairs $112m rebuild survives unscathed

A tech-led rebuild of the agency that serves Australia’s growing ranks of military and combat veterans when they come home will continue in earnest, with the government fleshing out reforms at the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA).

With DVA previously the subject of sharp criticism over its antiquated legacy systems and perennially troubled interfaces with other departments, the Veteran Centric Reform program that revolves around former military personnel and their families will get further enhancements.

According to the Budget 2019 papers, these include the widening of the MyService portal to expand the types of claims veterans can make online as well as cleaning up claims processing, with an emphasis on security and reliability.

A major challenge for veterans is they need to straddle Defence, Human Services and Veterans' Affairs bureaucracies and run the risk of getting lost in the maze of multi-agency processes to obtain their hard-fought entitlements.

Simplifications outlined this year include the long awaited introduction of new ICT systems, and multiple phone numbers to a single 1800 VETERAN number.

The increased use of data and analytics also gets a workout to “improve treatment pathways” and better monitor “the quality of care provided to veterans and their families.”

There’s also a conspicuous nod to doing away with the bad old ways of the past with continued reforms to “improve inefficient and outdated processes.”

The measure is forecast to generate efficiencies of $16.8 million over the four years to 2022-23.