Adequacy of the VA Persian Gulf Registry and Uniform Case Assessment Protocol

As mandated in Public Law 103-446, the Department of Veterns Affairs (VA) asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to review its Uniform Case Assessment Protocol (UCAP) for Persian Gulf veterans. The purpose of the program is to provide a systematic, comprehensive medical protocol for the diagnosis of health problems of Persian Gulf veterans. This report is the third in a series of studies by IOM reviewing the protocols used by the VA and the Department of Defense to diagnose the health complaints of Gulf veterans. The committee reviews and makes recommendations concerning the adequacy of the medical protocol and its implementation by the VA, as well as the VA's outreach and education efforts aimed at informing Persian Gulf veterans and their care providers of the purpose and availability of this program. In addition, the report contains as appendixes the findings and recommendations of the previous reports, as well as those of two related IOM reports on Health Consequences of Service During the Persian Gulf War.