One of the last pieces of legislation to make it through the 116th Congress was the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, MD Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020—a more than 300-page piece of legislation whose size and scope had it being referred to as the “veterans’ omnibus bill.”
Is it time to overhaul VA’s eligibility rules? According to some legislators, the process is long overdue for an update, although veterans’ service organizations are split on the issue.
On Jan. 11, 2020, China reported the first known death from a novel coronavirus. Ten days later, the U.S. announced its first confirmed case. By mid-January, VA’s infectious disease and public health experts initiated regular updates about the new virus to department leadership.
VA was initially left out of strategic decisions made by the U.S. Coronavirus Task Force, the group ostensibly coordinating the nation’s response to the pandemic, the agency revealed in a recent report.
The Tip of the Spear Award is AMSUS Sustaining Members most prestigious award presented to the Federal Health Professional/Leader that exhibited the highest standard of ethical public/private partnership in advancing federal health in 2020 and the AMSUS Sustaining Member Company who best exhibited the highest standard of ethical public/private partnership in support of federal health in 2020.
WASHINGTON—A data breach exposed the personal information of more than 46,000 veterans this summer, the VA recently revealed. Hackers gained access to VA’s Financial Services Center (FSC), diverting payments meant for community care providers. According to VA...
What responsibility does VA have for state veterans homes and the tsunami of COVID-19 infections and deaths that have swept through facilities nationwide?
The Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection has followed through with only a small fraction of the cases it has investigated.
While the number of COVID-19 cases being actively treated at VA facilities declined, the total number of infections and deaths rose steadily in July and August.
More than three-quarters of VA employees report that racism is a moderate to severe problem at VA facilities, according to a survey released by the American Federation of Government Employees.
WASHINGTON — Even as VA facilities open up nationwide, administrators and others are keeping a wary eye on the possibility of a significant second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the fall. U.S. healthcare systems are preparing now for a sharp increase in cases in the...
Schizophrenia can be frightening and life-changing. Common symptoms such as disorganized thinking and speech, lack of expressive emotion, social withdrawal, neglect of self-care, hallucinations and delusions alienate individuals with schizophrenia from others and create barriers to day-to-day functioning in society.
The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) biomarker is associated with systemic inflammation and poor prognosis in solid tumors.
Military personnel often have more exposure to sunlight, compared to their civilian counterparts, and that can increase their risk of melanoma.
Past research has cautioned about the risk of skin cancer with use of immunosuppressive medications. Yet, a new study pointed out, there is limited information on repeated basal cell cancer (BCC) occurrences among inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients, especially those who use immunosuppressive medications.
While reports in the literature are increasing about high rates of coagulopathy and venous thromboembolism (VTE) among hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), there is little guidance on how to treat it or prevent it.
Because VHA provides a continuum of care over the life course, the healthcare system has need to better understand what effect bipolar disorder and schizophrenia have on veterans’ risk of dementia.
Does early adolescent binge drinking (BD) increases the risk for and/or severity of psychopathology in post-9/11 veterans, and how does mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) affect the risk?