Understanding the Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record

The Department of War, in partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs, developed the ILER to improve how they track and understand environmental exposures that service members may experience throughout their military careers.

Program Origin

ILER was approved in January 2013 as a Joint Incentive Fund initiative to support White House Presidential directives for managing beneficiary and deployment health needs.

What ILER Is:

  • ILER is a secure, centralized system that gathers and integrates data from multiple sources.
  • Information includes unit assignments, deployment records, environmental monitoring systems, and known hazard reports.
  • The ILER platform provides consolidated, career-long exposure information that’s been submitted for individual service members. Exposures may have occurred in combat zones, during training, or in garrison environments.
  • Privacy and data security are central to ILER’s design.
  • Access is strictly limited to authorized DOW and VA personnel and is governed by robust federal data protection standards.
  • For veterans, ILER can play a vital role in the VA disability claims process.
  • ILER helps verify exposure history, especially when a veteran’s recollections can be confirmed with documented environmental or unit-based data.
  • Ultimately, ILER is a major step forward in the military’s commitment to lifelong care for service members and veterans. By improving how we track, understand and respond to environmental and occupational exposures, ILER helps us recognize and better support service member and veteran’s health concerns.

What ILER Isn't:

  • ILER is not a medical record and does not contain diagnoses or treatment histories.
  • Instead, it is an exposure reference tool for clinicians, claims processors, researchers, policymakers, service members and veterans.
  • Giving access to documented exposure data in ILER enhances our ability to deliver informed clinical care, evaluate disability claims, and guide research on exposure-related health conditions.
  • Importantly, ILER is not limited to combat or deployed environments. It includes data from a wide range of occupational and environmental settings, such as aircraft maintenance shops, fuel depots, burn pits and industrial facilities.
  • ILER offers a broader understanding of potential health risks across a service member’s entire career.
  • Still, ILER is not a complete or flawless record.
  • While it continues to evolve and expand, some historical exposure data may be missing, particularly from older data systems or undocumented incidents. That’s why ILER is intended to complement and not replace a thorough clinical exposure history and individual self-reporting.

ILER Myths vs. Facts

Fact:

ILER is a powerful tool that pulls together environmental and occupational exposure data over a service member’s career into one view. It supports better clinical care, research, and benefits decisions with a more complete picture of exposures that may affect long-term health.

Fact:

ILER includes both deployment and non-deployment exposures. Exposures may include garrison industrial exposures, training related incidents, or environmental monitoring data. ILER provides a more holistic view of exposures across a service member’s career.

 

Fact:

ILER is a tool for providers, claims processors, and researchers to use to better support service members and veterans. While individual users can’t access ILER directly at this time, the information helps to improve care, inform benefits claims, and guide research into exposure related illnesses.

Fact:

ILER brings together historical exposure data from multiple sources, including deployment locations, unit assignments, and documented environmental hazards. While it is not real-time information, ILER does assist with retrospective analysis, and supports better informed clinical and benefits decisions.

Fact:

ILER is a tool that adds value to a clinical exposure history. Providers are still responsible for talking with patients about occupational and environmental exposures. ILER may provide additional data that can validate or supplement patient history.

Fact:

ILER includes data for both active-duty and separated service members. It supports Department of Veterans Affairs in evaluating exposure-related claims and delivering appropriate care.

Fact:

ILER respects and complies with federal privacy laws. It focuses on exposure-related data, not private medical records, and access is restricted to authorized users for clinical, benefits, or research purposes.

Fact:

While ILER is continually improving, data completeness depends on available historical records and monitoring systems. The DOW and VA are working to fill gaps, digitize older data, and integrate new exposure sources, like those associated with the PACT Act.

Fact:

ILER can support VA claims by offering documented evidence of exposure events or environmental hazards during military service. It helps verify service connections for exposure-related health issues.

Fact:

ILER is a long-tern, joint DOW-VA initiative mandated by Congress. It is central to the military’s evolving approach to exposure tracking and lifelong health support for service members and veterans.