Exact Reasons Why Remain Mysterious MIAMI—Since 2008, approximately 6,000 veterans have died from suicide every year. In 2017, that averaged out to just under 17 suicides among previously activated former service members each day.* “Suicide is a national public health...
Once Used to Keep Women from Top Ranks, Menopause Now Managed Within VA, Military Health Systems
When President Harry Truman signed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act into law in 1948, it was touted as opening full military service and veterans’ benefits to women, but many restrictions remained in place. Women were not allowed to fly aircraft engaged in...
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...
VA Mental Healthcare Being Used by Depressed, Pregnant Vets
WORCESTER, MA—While depression screening is recommended for all pregnant veterans, it had remained unknown how often symptomatic women received care, how depression treatment presented in practice, and whether women veterans were utilizing treatment during the...
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...
Processes to Evaluate, Care for Military Sexual Trauma Patients Improve
WASHINGTON—With an increase in the number of servicemembers coming forward to report their experience with sexual assault during active duty, VA is slowly making progress in implementing best practices for how to evaluate and care for survivors of military sexual...
TRICARE Covers 3D Mammograms Under Provisional Program
WASHINGTON — As of the beginning of the year, TRICARE is offering 3D mammograms to screen for breast cancer for eligible patients. Previously, Tricare only covered digital breast tomosynthesis in special case (i.e., after a physician order for at-risk patients or...
VA Opts Against Charges in Alleged DC VAMC Assault of Congressional Staffer
Wilkie’s Characterization of ‘Unsubstantiated’ Challenged by VA IG WASHINGTON — Following an investigation by the VA Office of the Inspector General, federal authorities have decided not to file any charges based on a reported assault at the DC VAMC this past fall. A...
Women Veterans With PTSD Have More Risk Factors for Heart Disease
LOS ANGELES—While post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans previously has been linked to heart disease, the cohorts used in those studies were overwhelmingly mail. Now, a new study took a close look at PTSD’s effect on heart health in women veterans—and the news...
Why Do Women Veterans Report More Symptoms Following Mild TBI?
WASHINGTON—Following a mild traumatic brain injury or concussion, female veterans report more neurobehavioral symptoms, use more outpatient services and are more often diagnosed with depression than their male counterparts, according to a recent VA study.1 But why?...
Menstrual Suppression Could Help Deployed Women Avoid Discomfort, Inconvenience
The role of women in the military is changing. Whereas they may have acted as support personnel in earlier conflicts, they now play an active part in combat support and counterinsurgency operations.1 As of September 2010, there were 208,271 women on active duty in the...
Advocates Square Off Against VA on Women’s Veterans Task Force’s Role
WASHINGTON—It’s been nearly six months since the House VA Committee launched its bipartisan Women Veterans Task Force, and the result is a legislative docket filled with bills geared toward ensuring VA has the resources it needs to care for the growing number of...
Women, Chronically Ill Veterans Value Veterans Choice Access Most
HINES, IL—Women and veterans with multiple comorbidities used and valued the Veterans Choice Program (VCP) more than other veterans, according to recent research by the VA.1 To help these veterans and others, the VA has taken steps under the MISSION Act to improve...
Menopausal Symptoms Increase Long-Term Opioid Use Risk
Unrecognized by many in healthcare is that the greatest increases in long-term opioid use and opioid-related overdose mortality in recent years have been among women in midlife.
Year Supply of Contraceptives Prevents More Unintended Pregnancies
Birth Control Pill Change Could Save VA $2 Million Annually PITTSBURGH—What if there was a method to prevent nearly 600 unintended pregnancies and save the VA about $2 million a year in prenatal, birth and newborn care costs while also bolstering the reproductive...
A Fourth of Female Veterans Report Stranger Harassment at VAMCs
WASHINGTON—Women veterans regularly experience harassment by male veterans at VA facilities, and that harassment has a direct and lasting impact on their healthcare, VA researchers reported recently. Investigators from the VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System and...
VA Struggles to Overcome Women’s Healthcare Disparities
WASHINGTON—VA is straining its capacity and struggling against a culture that can sometimes be hostile to women as it responds to what VA officials consider a “tsunami wave of women veterans” over the last decade. Today, women make up more than 16% of active-duty...
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