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President Barack Obama will address members of the American Legion in Charlotte, North Carolina, to announce plans concerning executive measures that aim to improve health care for veterans, according to the Associated Press. This will be the latest administration measure to improve the failing Department of Veterans Affairs after several scandals concerning fabricated patient data and staggering veteran appointment wait times brought the struggling department to the media forefront.

Improving veteran care
Obama will use his executive power to accomplish several tasks, according to a White House press release, including automatically enrolling military members who are leaving service but are receiving mental health care treatment in programs that will transfer them to a new care team in the VA, according to the AP. Obama will also call for a study aimed at detecting whether servicemembers show signs of being vulnerable to suicide or post-traumatic stress syndrome. Finally, the president will also announce a new pilot program that will increase peer support for veterans facing mental health issues and provide over $100 million in funds used for research into PTSD and suicide prevention. This comes a few weeks after Obama signed a $16 billion VA health care bill to help take veterans off of wait lists by hiring new medical professionals and leasing more VA medical facilities.

Enhancing VA services
According to the White House, several departmental changes that will affect the VA have also been announced. Recently, the department adopted a new recruiting program that will attempt to attract the most efficient and effective health care professionals available. By the end of the fiscal year, a new electronic health record system in the VA will allow health care professionals to view all patient records stored in the Department of Defense and VA systems. Those records will include doctor's notes, problem lists and inpatient discharge summaries. Additionally, a new board of physicians will be established to help advise new VA Secretary Robert McDonald.

These are just a few measures of a long list, which will be announced on Aug. 26. In total, there are 19 new executive actions Obama may explain during his speech at the American Legion National Convention. Apart from health care and VA actions, the president will also announce a partnership with lenders, including Wells Fargo Bank, CitiMortgage, Bank of America, Ocwen Loan Servicing and Quicken Loans, that will make it easier for active-duty military personnel to acquire mortgage interest rate deductions, according to the AP.