WASHINGTON—As the number of cases of COVID-19 seen in hospitals in many states decline, the VA and DoD have turned from active support of overwhelmed facilities to building deeper understanding of the disease and its impacts through new research studies and continued...
WASHINGTON — According to VA leaders, the department will be better prepared if COVID-19 infections spike again in the fall, as many health experts are predicting it will.
WASHINGTON — When the VA recently received $17.2 billion in funding from the CARES Act, one of the priorities was providing telehealth resources for veterans seeking in-home care.
WASHINGTON—Last month, VA facilities were engaged in the same juggling act as healthcare organizations across the country—continuing to deal with a pandemic that in some areas of the country was worsening, while moving forward with plans to ease restrictions...
WASHINGTON — Legislators and veterans advocates are concerned about VA’s continued use of hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial also commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, on COVID-19 patients.
DoD Bidirectional Information Sharing Was Launched, However WASHINGTON—The rollout of VA’s new electronic health record system has been delayed again, this time due to the coronavirus. Just prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States, VA had announced it...
Masks, Other Protective Equipment Went Into Federal Stockpile WASHINGTON—While early in the pandemic VA leaders repeatedly said that their facilities had enough personal protective equipment for its staff to weather the crisis, reports began circulating last month of...
WASHINGTON—On March 4, VA announced its first coronavirus patient—a veteran at the Palo Alto VAMC. Seven weeks later, the system had 6,363 reported cases and 400 inpatient deaths nationwide. As of press time in late April, at least 132 VA facilities had treated...
WASHINGTON—Divide and conquer. The DoD is taking a new tack on the old advice, dividing the huge demand for support across the country among the services and related agencies in an effort to surmount this wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. By the end of April, more than...
WASHINGTON—The rollout of VA’s new electronic health record system has been delayed to at least July due to a lack of technology infrastructure and issues surrounding employee training. According to legislators, issues with a timely implementation were apparent as...
WASHINGTON—Legislators are referring to it as the “silver tsunami”—the wave of Vietnam-era veterans who are entering their later years and who will increasingly require long-term care from VA over the next decade. Both lawmakers and veterans’ advocates are concerned...
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA—Despite significant rates of sudden cardiac death in recruits and the devastating impact of SCD on military missions, the DoD discontinued universal electrocardiogram screening for recruits and officer candidates nearly 20 years ago. Now,...
VAMCs Also Called on to Backstop Overwhelmed Civilian Hospitals WASHINGTON—While most of the country was nearing the end of its second full week of lockdown due to COVID-19, VA was in the midst of two massive administrative undertakings. The first was familiar to many...
WASHINGTON—The DoD is throwing the weight and experience of the U.S. military into the fight against the novel coronavirus. Navy ships, Army troops, Air Force cargo planes, National Guardsmen and Reserve forces are all being tapped to battle the invisible enemy:...
By Sandra Basu WASHINGTON — Pilots will be able to breathe easier as a result of changes to the oxygen systems in the F-22 aircraft, Air Force officials recently assured a House committee. The F-22 fleet has been under intense scrutiny after some pilots flying the...
By Steve Lewis MADISON, WI — At age 21, Jeffrey Unger said he already had a clear vision of what would become one of his lifelong goals — to help returning veterans get the care they needed. “In my life I’ve enjoyed every day I served in uniform,” says Unger, who was...
By Lt. Gen. Thomas W. Travis, Surgeon General, United States Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas W. Travis U.S. military forces, now in the second decade of war, benefit from the vast achievements Army, Navy and Air Force medics have jointly made in deployed and enroute health...
By Steve Lewis TEMPLE, TX - Retired Brig. Gen. James T. Turlington, MD, may no longer be an active duty general officer in the Air Force, but he’s still practicing medicine — and still making a difference. In fact, Turlington, a urologist at the Central Texas Veterans...
By Sandra Basu WASHINGTON - The DoD plans to cut its civilian workforce by 5% to 6% by the end of fiscal year 2018, including more than 5,000 from the Military Health System. President Barack Obama’s FY 2014 proposed base budget request of $526.6 billion for the...
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...
WASHINGTON—Despite significant efforts by DoD and VA to revamp the disability evaluation process, the new system remains “complex and adversarial,” the top Army doctor told a congressional subcommittee. DoD and VA agreed on a new disability and evaluation system to...
Retired Lt. Gen. (Dr.) Paul K. Carlton Jr., right, directs responders after the Pentagon attack Sept. 11, 2011. WASHINGTON — Mass-casualty management planning that occurred at the Pentagon in the months and days before 9/11 helped medical personnel respond...
Through more than a decade of sustained combat, the men and women of the Air Force Medical Service have answered our nation’s call and maintained a standard of excellence second to none. Since the war began, the innovations and advancements across the Military Health...
By Sandra Basu WASHINGTON — Reporting the results of an investigation begun after an Army physician opened fire and shot more than 40 people at Fort Hood in 2009, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the military services need to do a better job of...
WASHINGTON - Since 1982, the VA has had a fourth mission that reaches beyond providing healthcare, benefits, and burial of veterans to providing emergency support to the nation’s healthcare system. That mission has come to the fore with novel coronavirus stressing a...
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 need to reach vulnerable and anxious veterans in their communities. To expand outreach to these veterans during the...
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...
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...
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...
A Quarter of Recent Veterans Have Faced Food Insecurity WASHINGTON — Tim, a Navy veteran living in Maine, was injured on the job and found himself unable to return to work. With no income, he applied for benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program....
