PITTSBURGH—Almost 492,000 women veterans used the VA health care system in fiscal year 2017, a nearly 150% increase since fiscal year 2003,...
News
Many Questions Remain Unanswered Nine Months Into VA’s MISSION Act
Agency Not Sure How Many Veterans Are Using the Program WASHINGTON—Nine months after the MISSION Act went live, VA is still unsure how many veterans...
Current Issue
Recent Deployed Veterans Have Greater Exercise-Induced Bronchoconstriction
Small Study Looked at Those Serving in Iraq, Afghanistan EAST ORANGE, NJ—For more than 20 years, many veterans have reported respiratory issues...
VA, DoD Report Sharp Increases in Novel Coronavirus Cases, Scramble to Respond
WASHINGTON - VA and DoD reported increasing numbers of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus behind a global pandemic, and rushed to implement plans to...
COVID-19
VA Mobilizes for Its ‘Fourth Mission’: Helping Overwhelmed Civilian Hospitals
WASHINGTON - Since 1982, the VA has had a fourth mission that reaches beyond providing healthcare, benefits, and burial of veterans to providing...
VA Addresses the Emotional Toll of Coronavirus
WASHINGTON - While VAMCs undertook a number of steps to respond to the increase in COVID-19 cases coming through their doors, the VA recognized the...
Growing Number of Veterans Battling Coronavirus
WASHINGTON - In light of a growing COVID-19 crisis, the VA announced it has successfully increased its intensive care unit and medical/surgical bed...
Facing a COVID-19 Outbreak, Navy Evacuates Crew of USS Theodore Roosevelt
WASHINGTON—In response to an urgent and widely publicized plea from the commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which has suffered a significant...
U.S. Medicine Supplements
CE Credits
Editor-In-Chief, Chester “Trip” Buckenmaier III, MD, COL (ret.), MC, USA
If you Think Adventure is Dangerous
“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it is lethal” ―Paulo Coelho
My wife, Pam, and I recently returned from a fantastic sailing adventure in the Bahamas aboard the Liberty Clipper, part of the Boston Harbor Liberty Fleet of Tall Ships. The 125-foot gaff-rigged schooner is a modern replica of the small merchant vessels that plied the American coast in the 18th and 19th centuries. While the steel-hulled ship caters to tourism in Boston during the summer, taking guests on short sails around Boston Harbor, it overwinters in the Bahamas out of Nassau, providing weeklong cruises throughout the islands for those looking for something different in cruising.
This cruise is more of an adventure tour. The food was outstanding—my glass was never empty—and the scenery was incredible (we sailed the isolated Bahama Exuma islands), although the cabins were consistent with a working sailboat. While we did have a private bathroom, we slept in bunks, and Pam and I could not pass each other in the cabin without one leaving the room.
Using ‘Blue Button’ Decreases Duplicate Lab Tests
IOWA CITY, IA —With patients increasingly seek care across multiple health care settings, partly fueled by implementation of the MISSION Act, a key coordination issue is the unnecessary duplication of laboratory across different healthcare settings. Iowa City VA...
Veteran Study Links DPP-4 Inhibitors to Greater Joint Pain Risk
MORGANTOWN, WV—Dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-4 inhibitors appear to be associated with joint pain in older veterans who receive care at the VHA but also are Medicare beneficiaries, according to a new study. The report in American Health Drug Benefits pointed out that...
With Obesity, Moderate Hyperglycemia Hastens Cognitive Decline
PITTSBURGH —What precisely is the relationship between cognitive decline in patients with both diabetes and obesity? Researchers from the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and the University of Pittsburgh sought to investigate the potential mechanisms leading to those...
Hormone Therapy Appears to Affect Heart Fat Deposition
PITTSBURGH—While heart fat deposition has been linked to atherosclerosis—with both accelerating after menopause—hormone therapy might be able to change how that occurs. A study published in the journal Menopause examined how hormone therapy differentially slowed heart...
Survey of VHA Use of Chemoprevention for Breast Cancer
INDIANAPOLIS—Although clinicians now have tools to reduce the risk of breast cancer, most eligible women in the United States aren’t offered either personalized screening or chemoprevention. That is despite breast cancer being the most common cancer diagnosed among...
Communication, Organizational Gaps Contribute to Suicides at VAMCs
WASHINGTON—While the VA has declared preventing veteran suicide to be their top priority, veterans continue to attempt or commit suicide at VA healthcare facilities. Recent reports from the VA Inspector General’s Office suggest that the deficiencies that allow these...
Tuscaloosa VAMC Physician Promotes Employment for Veterans With PTSD
TUSCALOOSA, AL—With the Veterans Coordinated Approach to Recovery and Employment project, Lori Davis, MD, knows she has her work cut out for her. Not only does she have to prove that individual placement and support employment services can help veterans with...
A VA-Like Pharmacy Benefits Program Could Be a National Model
Potential to Fix Two Huge Problems with the U.S. Healthcare System CAMBRIDGE, MA—Rising drug prices have frustrated patients nationwide, often leading individuals to forgo needed therapies because they simply could not afford them. In some instances, cost-control...
VHA Shifts Focus from Problem-Centered to Veteran-Centered in New Model
FORSAN, TX — By rolling out the Whole Health System, the VA expects to transform care for veterans and could establish the agency as the national leader in a fundamentally different, truly integrated approach to healthcare. The Whole Health program asks alternative...
Star Ratings System Out at VA; More Localized Healthcare Comparisons Offered
WASHINGTON—The VA will no longer use a star ratings system to compare its 146 VA medical centers. Instead, the VA will make public measures such as wait times, quality of medical care and patient experience ratings available for each facility. According to VA...
A Third of Women Treated in VA System Perceive Gender-Based Discrimination
PITTSBURGH—Almost 492,000 women veterans used the VA health care system in fiscal year 2017, a nearly 150% increase since fiscal year 2003, according to VA statistics. Those numbers are only expected to increase. While the Veteran Population Projection Model 2016, the...
Many Questions Remain Unanswered Nine Months Into VA’s MISSION Act
Agency Not Sure How Many Veterans Are Using the Program WASHINGTON—Nine months after the MISSION Act went live, VA is still unsure how many veterans are taking advantage of the revamped community care system and how much it will cost the department in its first year,...
If you Think Adventure is Dangerous
“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it is lethal” ―Paulo Coelho
My wife, Pam, and I recently returned from a fantastic sailing adventure in the Bahamas aboard the Liberty Clipper, part of the Boston Harbor Liberty Fleet of Tall Ships. The 125-foot gaff-rigged schooner is a modern replica of the small merchant vessels that plied the American coast in the 18th and 19th centuries. While the steel-hulled ship caters to tourism in Boston during the summer, taking guests on short sails around Boston Harbor, it overwinters in the Bahamas out of Nassau, providing weeklong cruises throughout the islands for those looking for something different in cruising.
This cruise is more of an adventure tour. The food was outstanding—my glass was never empty—and the scenery was incredible (we sailed the isolated Bahama Exuma islands), although the cabins were consistent with a working sailboat. While we did have a private bathroom, we slept in bunks, and Pam and I could not pass each other in the cabin without one leaving the room.
Using ‘Blue Button’ Decreases Duplicate Lab Tests
IOWA CITY, IA —With patients increasingly seek...
Veteran Study Links DPP-4 Inhibitors to Greater Joint Pain Risk
MORGANTOWN, WV—Dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP)-4...
With Obesity, Moderate Hyperglycemia Hastens Cognitive Decline
PITTSBURGH —What precisely is the relationship...
Hormone Therapy Appears to Affect Heart Fat Deposition
PITTSBURGH—While heart fat deposition has been...