WASHINGTON - Maj. Gen. Carla Hawley-Bowland acknowledges ongoing problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that must be fixed, especially with red tape and the disability rating system.

It has been one year since the Washington Post ran a series that prompted national outrage at the difficulties recovering soldiers have faced navigating the bureaucracy there in order to get the help they needed.

In her first interview since taking command of Walter Reed in December, Hawley-Bowland said it has changed quite a bit already.

"It was never about the medical care," she said. "The medical care is top-notch. It was about the bureaucratic processing of soldiers through the disability system, those that are too injured to come back on active duty, to get them the disability payments and get them through that system, that bureaucracy. It also was about making appointments, just all the day-to-day business of taking care of patients that needed to be streamlined."

Walter Reed has set up a warrior transition unit with command and control, meaning soldiers are transferred to that unit and no longer belong to their parent units, she said. A triad of a case manager, a squad leader and a primary care manager work together to manage the care of each soldier.

"We have the ratios correct so that they can manage those soldiers, get them to their appointments, get their appointments made, get everything done timely and then follow them through the paperwork process of processing out of the Army or going through the process and staying on active duty," she said. "That part has greatly streamlined."

They also are working on better linking with the Department of Veterans Affairs to carry on treatment after soldiers leave active duty, she said.

But what needs changing is the disability rating system, she added. She continues to work at "bureaucracy busting."

"The thing that still needs to be done - the disability system and the ratings - we're back in 1945, is when those were made. Both the VA and the military agree that we need to update those for today's standards. It's a different lifestyle now than it was back in 1945, so we need to revamp (that)."

She said the Defense Department has a team looking at how to do that. She also said Walter Reed has a pilot program to streamline the process by eliminating a step.

Soldiers used to get two physicals: one from the Army to determine whether they were fit for active duty, then one by the VA to determine the amount of disability payments they would get based on all their medical conditions, not just the on the one that disqualified them from duty.

"They're now doing one physical," she said. "The VA is doing the physical, and we are using their rating scheme for the rates. But I think the whole, how they do the final disability rating and calculations is what needs to be still worked on."

To get most of the benefits, soldiers need a 30 percent disability rating.

The news reports also revealed some buildings with mold and other run-down facilities.

"We've got now state-of-the-art barracks for our soldiers with handicap access. They have a computer, they've got a flat-screen TV. They get to their appointments - we've got transportation arranged for them. We take care of their families," she said.