Veterans and their families interact with the VA for issues ranging from home loans to medical services, sometimes over the course of years and for a variety of reasons. For a Veteran whose phone number, e-mail or address has changed, updating that information can be a time-consuming maze. Their contact information may be stored in any of 80 systems across the VA. These systems are not synchronized and Veterans have told us that this creates confusion and frustration for not just them, but also their families and service partners.

VA Customer Profile is working to fix that.

Integrating data silos

VA Customer Profile will transform the current cumbersome process and provide a seamless experience for customers by consolidating VA’s data silos. The foundation for this initiative is the Master Data Management platform, which will deliver a single source of truth for common Veteran data across various channels (via phone, online access, walk-in and mail). Veterans or employees will be able to review and update their contact information and those updates will be shared across the VA. VA Customer Profile is also partnering with VA.gov to provide Veterans with their profile information online, in one place.

Over time, VA Customer Profile will be the source of all common Veteran data, including:

  • Socio-economic and demographic data
  • Military service
  • Eligibility and benefits
  • Health information
  • Pre-burial information

The new user profile powered by VET360Benefits to VA

Incorrect data is not just frustrating for the Veteran interfacing with the VA – it’s also expensive. Just as the Veteran wastes time making multiple phone calls to update their information, on the other end are multiple agents, spending time updating data over multiple systems. Synchronization of data enabled by VA Customer Profile reduces the cost of handling and maintaining this data.

VA Customer Profile advances the Secretary’s priority to modernize systems and technology to enable VA employees to deliver the high-quality care and services Veterans deserve. Further, a single source of common Veteran data supports the VA’s Digital Strategy and underpins the Contact Center Modernization initiative.

Looking Ahead

VA Customer Profile will deploy its first phase in May 2018, when contact information will be available for review and update via many major VA systems and VA.gov. This work will lay the foundation for future expansion that will transform the interaction between the Veteran, family members and beneficiaries and the VA.

Topics in this story

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11 Comments

  1. Cynthia Hickson May 18, 2018 at 19:37

    My husband’s name is Royce Dean Hickson. He was born on June 24, 1944. He Enlisted in the US Army, January 23, 1964 and his Boot Camp was in Fort Polk. Louisiana. Then he went to Signal Corp school and then spent a year repairing communication radios in Korea, where he was issued TCE and Nylon gloves, to perform this job weekly. In Nov. 30, 1965, he was reassigned to Fort Stewart, Georgia for 2 years. At this location he was a Turret Repairman. He was issued TCE and leather gloves to clean the Cosmoline off the new Tank Turret parts weekly before assembling them. January 20, 1967 he was Honorably Discharged, from Fort Knox, Kentucky.
    Royce has Parkinson’s from the TCE exposure. I estimate his TCE exposure to be weekly for at least 2.5 of the 3 years. He has 6 sibling and 2 parents that never had Parkinson’s. His dad and 3 of his siblings were also in the military, but did not get exposed to TCE.
    We met at Texas Instruments in Stafford, Texas December 5, 1973, but I was soon moved to the shift I was hired for. Friday evening of Labor Day weekend 1974, we ran into each other at a party one of the TI managers was giving. We did something together each of the next 3 days. That weekend I noticed a tremor in the bone below the thumb of his left hand when we were holding hands, so I would only hold Royce’s right hand.
    When he was cleaning the Cosmoline off the tank turret parts, his left held the parts while his right hand cleaned the parts. The TCE fumes affected his left eye, it is almost blind. Doctors thought he had Macular Degeneration, but it did not progress. Live Video Skeletal Swallow test shown the left half of his throat is paralyzed, but his right side is fine, but after he finished swallowing a drop of liquid would drop into his windpipe and make him cough.
    I was driving home from work in 2014, listening to NPR, during the BBC Hour. A gentleman with a British accent, came on saying, Their are people coming down with Parkinson’s and it’s different. It’s Military, Machinists, Mechanics and Artists, born in the 1940’s thru the 1960’s, who when they were in the workforce used TCE or PERC to clean Cosmoline off of metal parts.
    I have witnessed the Parkinson’s take over his body over the last 43+ years, from left to right, more so in the last 10 years. All the research I have done over the past 4 years confirms his Parkinson’s is connected to his TCE exposure.
    The VA in Houston Texas still claims his Parkinson’s is not chemical connected to TCE exposure.
    I have done my research, even called the CDC an asked if TCE was connected to Parkinson’s, and was told “Yes! go to cdc.gov and look it up.”

  2. Julie DeMary May 12, 2018 at 20:22

    I don’t understand why they can’t integrate their computer systems. My doctor can’t even order tests when I am in another state. How hard is that??? Other than that I have received good care from the VA but it takes forever to get approval to be sent outside of the VA for something they can’t do. Also use my healthy vet but can’t send messages to anyone the way it is advertised. I have the premium account. What is up with that????

  3. Nichole Heilesen May 9, 2018 at 00:44

    Sorry you don’t have a better VA George

  4. Frank T Rivera May 4, 2018 at 20:25

    Retired 83 year old US ARMY REGULAR ARMY career officer, in grade of Lieutenant Colonel, with three combat tours in Viet Nam, awarded Purple Heart for wounds in combat environment. Finally “accepted and integrated “into the fold.
    Heretofore VA was a “Enlisted Heaven for many “wounded enlisted and Non Com personnel “only.”

    Finally accepted and integrated.

    .

  5. George a horner May 4, 2018 at 13:01

    Va doesn’t care for veterans unless they are half dead and/or homeless. I served 12 years of honorable service and 1 am disabled 61 years old

  6. roy schuelke May 4, 2018 at 12:39

    bs………..cant even keep drugs on the same system!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  7. Bruce Sautter May 4, 2018 at 12:28

    It about time to have a central data base will save time and head acks

  8. Leonard Joseph Hughes May 4, 2018 at 11:52

    Always making progress

  9. JP HULLER May 4, 2018 at 10:29

    Nice system, but there is no mention oif when it will be available.

  10. Michael E Bell May 3, 2018 at 07:39

    Wonderful having the opportunity of being a part of Vet360 phase in and pray it’s operation is just the beginning of enhancing Veterans services throughout all military branches. And thinking out of the box from the very bottom to top in services excellent professional operations.

  11. herbert shevins May 2, 2018 at 13:59

    So nice to see such progressive long needed improvements.

Comments are closed.

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