WASHINGTON – Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and other members of the Senate questioned military officials Tuesday about the medical conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and veterans hospitals nationwide.

“We’re facing far greater problems than just the physical conditions at Walter Reed,” Collins said at an Armed Services Committee hearing.

The substandard outpatient conditions at Walter Reed, first revealed by Washington Post reporters, led members of Congress to question patient care at military and Veterans Affairs Department hospitals across the country.

A letter Collins received from a soldier’s mother in Portland described conditions at a military hospital in Fort Hood, Texas, similar to those at Walter Reed.

“The fear of retribution was constantly with us,” reads the letter provided by Collins. “The one time I asked my family group leader for assistance, my son received a terrible tongue lashing for telling me what was going on.”

Collins recently visited Walter Reed in Washington and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and said inpatient care conditions at both facilities were excellent. “The system seems to break down when they become outpatients,” she said in an interview.

Collins also said patient care is sufficient at the Togus Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta, though funding is a “constant battle.”

Despite proposed military health budget cuts for fiscal year 2008, Jack Sims, the Togus director, said the hospital currently has adequate staff because there has not been an overwhelming influx of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We try to stay ahead of the situation,” Sims said. “Members of top management make rounds throughout the facility on a weekly basis to make sure we are aware of any situation.”

Gen. Peter Schoomaker, U.S. Army chief of staff, said at the hearing that a number of problems at Walter Reed have been identified and fixed, but there is still much to do.

“Some of our medical holding units are not manned to the proper level and some of our leaders have failed to ensure accountability, discipline and the well-being of our wounded soldiers,” Schoomaker said. “We are committed to rapidly fixing these problems.”

Collins said the Armed Services Committee will hold joint hearings with the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee to discuss disability programs for soldiers, which is an additional concern for many injured troops.

Soldiers often receive inconsistent disability ratings from the military and VA hospitals, and that affects disability pensions, committee members said at the hearing Tuesday.

“We’re going to have to take a look at the disability system to identify a less adversarial system and one that’s more consistent,” Collins said.