As VA employees are reporting increasing levels of burnout, and the department is facing its highest turnover rate in decades, VA has tried to put systems in place to support staff mental and emotional health.
Community Care Coordination Puts Strain on VA Staff, Finances
Since 2014, when Congress passed the Veterans Access Choice and Accountability (Choice) Act, the VA has been paying for U.S. veterans to receive increasing amounts of private sector, non-VA, care.
Cost of Community Care Has Risen Faster Than In-House VA Medical Care
President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget request for VA totals $301.4 billion—an 13.3% jump from the FY22 enacted levels. This is in addition to an FY24 Advanced Appropriations request totaling $287 billion.
VA Hospitalizations Dropped Moderately After Legislation Allowing Outside Care
With the implementation of the Veterans’ Choice Act of 2014 (VCA), hospitalization within the VA healthcare system showed a modest decline.
VA Researcher Focuses on How to Prevent Staff Burnout at VA
For the past five years, Kara Zivin, PhD, MS, MA, has been “chasing burnout,” working to understand what causes it, how to measure it and what are the truly impactful measures that a healthcare system can take to combat it.
VA AIR Report Outdated Because Pandemic Effects Weren’t Considered
Some of the data which the VA used to support the recommendations made in its Asset and Infrastructure Report (AIR) is outdated and flawed, VA leaders recently admitted.
MHS Care Outshines Civilian Medicine in Multiple Myeloma
When a cure is not possible, longer life is the goal. For patients with multiple myeloma, extending survival is the best available option today, and one of the best ways to achieve that is to receive care through the U.S. Military Health System.
Safety Procedures Aren’t Always Followed at DHA Facilities
Dez Del Barba was only a short way into Army basic training at Fort Benning, GA, when he began to experience escalating pain in both legs. Physicians wrote it off as simple muscle soreness.
Future Employers Might Not Know About Problem Clinicians Fired by VA
A recent investigation by the VA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found widespread noncompliance by VA facilities in reporting healthcare professionals whose conduct or incompetence led them to be fired to state licensing boards (SLB) or the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB).
VA Continues Inconsistent Measurement of Veteran Wait Times for Care
On its website, VA regularly reports misleading information on how long it takes for a veteran to be seen at its facilities, according to a recent VA Inspector’s General report. That can lead to confusion among veterans and anyone researching wait times, it added.
Severe Staffing Shortages Continue to Plague VA Healthcare System
The VA healthcare system currently is grappling with about 50,000 vacancies, mostly among doctors, nurses, social workers and physician aides. In addition, the turnover rate among nurses is the highest the department has experienced since 2005.
How the DCVAMC Has Weathered Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic
The latter half of December and the first weeks of the new year were trying times for hospitals as the Omicron variant began sweeping across the country, causing infection rates and hospitalizations to rise to levels unprecedented even during the earliest months of the pandemic.
VHA Has Better Noncardiac Surgical Outcomes Than Private Sector Hospitals
Perioperative outcomes at the VHA are consistently better than those in private sector hospitals, according to a new study.
Costs of Cataract, Other Surgeries at VA Vs. Outside Care
A new study raises questions about which veterans requiring cataract and total knee replacement surgeries received community care, as opposed to the cases kept within the VA system.
Cancer Patients Have Better Survival With Military Health Service Care
MHS provides universal healthcare to beneficiaries, reducing barriers to medical care access. That appears to be especially beneficial for military beneficiaries facing a colon cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Healthcare Quality Assurance Programs Again Found Lacking by OIG Report
The quality, safety and value (QSV) programs in some VA facilities continue to fall short, according to a new VA Inspector General report.
Veteran Was Missing for Almost a Month Before Decomposed Body Found
On June 12, 2020, a badly decomposed body was found in the emergency exit stairwell of the Bedford Veterans Quarters (BVQ), a privately operated, independent living facility on the campuses of VA’s Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital.
Veterans Receiving Total Knee Replacements at VA Facilities
Thanks to the MISSION Act, VA is increasing purchasing healthcare for veterans in the communities where they live.
COVID-19 Vaccine Expected to Be Required for Military Personnel This Month
The DoD plans to request a presidential waiver to require all servicemembers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine starting in mid-September, according to a memo sent by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Despite Delays, NCAA Attorney Donald Remy Confirmed as VA’s Deputy Secretary
Former National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) attorney Donald Remy, an Army veteran, has been confirmed by the Senate to be the VA’s deputy secretary.
OIG Finds That VA’s Computer Systems Remain Vulnerable to Cyberattacks
Although no data was stolen from VA’s computer systems during the 2020’s SolarWinds hack, cybersecurity remains a long-standing material weakness for the VA, agency overseers pointed out.
Problems With DoD-to-VA Transition Program Intensified by Pandemic
Transitioning from active duty military service to civilian life is difficult at the best of times. The pandemic added a host of new challenges, highlighted existing problems with the transitioning process and widened the cracks through which those veterans who are most in need of support are in danger of falling.
How Was a VA Nurse Assistant Able to Murder Seven Patients in One Year?
In May, Reta Mays, a former nurse’s assistant at VA’s Louis A. Johnson Medical Center in Clarksburg was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences—one each for the patients that she had pleaded guilty to murdering.
Workflow Issues Plague Rollout of VA’s New Electronic Health Record
Many of the design issues delaying the continued rollout of VA’s new electronic health record (EHR) system are in the area of standardized workflow rather than simple technical glitches, VA officials explained.
Mortality Rate Lower for Kidney Transplant Patients at VHA Than Outside Care
Mortality rates are lower for veterans who receive all of their post-kidney transplant care within the VHA than those who receive care outside the VA through Medicare coverage, according to a recent study.
Lawmakers Seek to Expand VA Coverage Related to Fertility Issues
Veterans who have service-connected infertility issues should have access to the full range of fertility services science now available, especially in vitro fertilization, without the constraints imposed by antiquated and sometimes nonsensical regulations, legislators and veterans’ advocates argued last month.
Early Discharge Follow-Up Improves HF Outcomes
The benefit of early post-discharge hospital followup for heart failure patients was demonstrated in a new approach at the Southern Arizona VA Healthcare System.
House VA Committee Engages in Partisan Squabbling Over Funding
In its first meeting of the 117th Congress, the House VA Committee advanced a proposal that would allocate $17 billion for VA as part of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
VA Doctors Sentenced for Crimes Committed Against Veteran Patients
The first months of 2021 saw the progression of a number of high-profile criminal cases involving VA employees charged with harming the patients they were tasked to serve.
VA Officials: Pandemic Recovery Expected to Strain VA Funding
The aftermath of the pandemic at VA will require as much emergency funding, if not more, than was required during the actual pandemic, according to VA leadership.