What's Brewin: Fast Track for Shinseki VA Confirmation

The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee plans to hold a hearing on the presumptive nomination of former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki for VA secretary. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the committee, says he will hold the hearing on Jan. 14, 2009, six days before Barack Obama is sworn in as the nation's 44th president.

Akaka said he decided to hold the hearing on Shinseki, a Hawaii native, before Inauguration Day, so the Senate can act on his nomination as soon as it is received, potentially the afternoon of Jan. 20. This may just set a new speed record for confirmations, which tend to move through the Senate at a glacial pace.

Akaka met with Shinseki on Dec. 10 and told him he considered mental health care a priority. "VA needs more doctors trained to treat invisible wounds such as post-traumatic stress disorder," Akaka said.

I don't know where Shinseki stands on this issue, but he might want to consult his wife, Patti, who has worked to help children of military families deal with the invisible wounds of war since her husband ran the Army.

Living the New Normal

That's the mantra Patti Shinseki adopted when she spearheaded the Military Child Education Coalition's program to help children deal with the trauma associated when a parent is killed or wounded in combat.

Until the coalition started its program, called Living the New Normal: Supporting Children Through Trauma and Loss Initiative, there was no systematic assistance program to help children deal with the death or injury of a parent in combat. The coalition helps military children through a combination of counseling and community and educational resources -- the kind of help veterans need to deal with their trauma.

Patti's work is backed by Army. Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton, director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, which in a YouTube video said that when it comes to dealing with combat trauma, it is "time for a little less talk, and a lot more action."

Sounds like a good prescription for the member of the Shinseki family tapped to head VA to meet Akaka's challenge to deal with the invisible wounds of war.

How Private Is Your Personal Heath Record?

Last week I reported the Military Health System kicked off a test to allow patients to manage their health records using either Google Health or Microsoft Heath Vault.

But Dr. Deborah Peel, who founded Patient Privacy Rights, a nonprofit based in Austin, Texas, that works to ensure medical information remains confidential, warned any personal health record in existence today has no solid guarantee of privacy.

Peel said that's why her organization plans to set up early next year another outfit called Patient Privacy Certified, which has developed what she called "the toughest international criteria" to ensure consumer control and privacy in health IT systems and software.

Microsoft, Peel said, has agreed to a Patient Privacy Certified audit and to certify its Health Vault personal health record.

Google, Peel added, has not signed on.

Hmm, if I ever get a personal health record, I think I'll opt for Health Vault.

The 15 Question Sign-On

Everyone who accesses a secure Web site has to put up with answering a security question or two, such as what your mother's maiden name is or the name of your favorite pet.

But starting in February, the 2 million Defense Department users of the Army Knowledge Online/Defense Knowledge Online portals will have to answer 15 -- that's right, 15 -- security questions to get access, Jennifer "Gina" Gay, an AKO/DKO spokeswoman, told me.

But, users will not to have to type in all 15 answers, Gray said. Instead, they'll mouse click their answers from a multiple-choice box, a good way to foil nefarious folks who try to steal usernames and passwords by electronic keystroke monitoring.

I asked Gina if I was in the Army, could I select the names of my five cats as answers to five of the security questions. Nope, the questions are preset, Gray said, and don't include five devoted to pets' names.

Darn.

In case you are curious, the cats' names are: Bootsy, Chessie, Daphne, Inky and Willa.

If you think this is not a guy thing, you're wrong. This fall, The New York Times reported that a "man's best friend is no longer a golden retriever, but a cuddly cat named Fluffy."