ANN ARBOR, MI — VA clinicians may be doing too good of a job of controlling blood pressure in patients with diabetes, according to research suggesting that as many as 8% of those veterans may have been overtreated.

PHILADELPHIA — While VHA must face the challenge of meeting the needs both of aging veterans and recently deployed servicemembers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, the two groups have at least one problem in common: a high incidence of chronic pain.

WASHINGTON — While VA and DoD have reported to Congress that they have been working to speed up the time it takes injured and ill troops to get through the disability evaluation system, the waits actually have gotten longer, according to GAO testimony at a recent hearing.

If you have followed this column, you know I’m a sailor. In fact, my family has long been associated with sailing. My wife and I both grew up around sailing boats, and our children have rarely known a year to pass without various sailing adventures at home on the Chesapeake Bay and in the Caribbean. Though I am quite proud of my career as a federal medicine physician in the Army, I fancy myself plying the world’s oceans as an 18^th century sailing captain of a frigate.

WASHINGTON — The past few years have seen a revolution in personal technology. Smartphones and tablet computers have made all the functions of the personal computer and the Internet completely portable and far more convenient.

ST. PAUL, MN — The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments reached an agreement with 3M that has the potential to go far beyond integrating electronic health records between the two departments. The deal could galvanize efforts to implement and integrate medical information and securely share patient data between physicians and facilities across the globe.

About 20% of patients presenting with Stage IV solid tumors never receive anticancer therapy, including more than 12% of those with breast cancer, according to a new study presented at the recent meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology.

HOUSTON — Patients with lung cancer or other diseases where tumors are beginning to obstruct their central airway have a long, hard road ahead. As the tumor continues to grow, taking in oxygen becomes more and more difficult.

Concerns Expressed about Continuum of Care
BETHESDA — Marine Corps Cpl. Garrett Carnes lost both legs while serving in Afghanistan earlier this year, but that has not stopped him from walking. Thanks to advances in prosthetics, he recently practiced some of his first steps walking up a ramp in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center’s prosthetics gait lab.

A new study has found that perceived discrimination was associated with risk of severe coronary obstruction among black male veterans, and the researchers recommend that factor be considered in screening and treating patients at the VA.