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....
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...
WASHINGTON—The fight to push forward legislation that would create a three-year pilot programming allowing VA to provide grants to community groups targeting veteran suicide has caused rare, public friction among the usually bipartisan House VA Committee and between...
WASHINGTON—Though it might be lost among VA’s larger, higher-profile IT projects, the department is moving forward with its latest attempt to replace its financial management system—something it has tried and failed to do twice in the past. The Financial Management...
WASHINGTON—The health of Native American veterans recently took center stage at congressional hearings—a rarity—as VA and the Indian Health Service prepare to update their memorandum of understanding on how the agencies share responsibility in caring for Native...
Original Proposal Would Have Been Detrimental to USUHS WASHINGTON—The DoD’s proposed plan to cut as many as 18,000 military medical billets has been put on hold in the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act, which passed the House and Senate last...
As Many as 90,000 Veterans Could Become Eligible WASHINGTON—With as many as 90,000 veterans waiting in the wings to apply for benefits, the VA said it will be ready to handle the influx of new claims when the provisions of the Blue Water Navy Act go into effect on...
WASHINGTON—The Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, created in 2017 to make it safer for VA employees to come forward about problems they identify with the agency, actually has been doing the opposite of its stated purpose, according to a report from...
WASHINGTON—The rollout of VA’s new medical scheduling system has been delayed an additional two years, with the end date being pushed from 2023 to 2025, VA officials announced last month. VA had separated implementation of the new system from its larger...
WASHINGTON—It’s a constant refrain from VA leaders and staff that despite the continual spotlight that VA finds itself in, the public, legislators and even veterans themselves are unaware of just how much good work happens at VA facilities on a daily basis. As...
WASHINGTON—Three months following the implementation of the MISSION Act, VA leaders testified before Congress that the sweeping changes to the agency’s community care standards are rolling out smoothly. Concerns remain, however, about veterans’ lack of understanding...
WASHINGTON—Disturbing incidents involving VA facilities have been in the headlines recently.
WASHINGTON—Oversight agencies are sounding the alarm that VA is plagued with large staffing shortages in critical areas, including physicians, registered nurses, physician assistants, psychologists and physical therapists, as well as human resource specialists.
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...
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...
Elderly AF Veteran Had More Than 100 Ant Bites Before Death ATLANTA—Nine VA employees, including the VISN 7 director and chief medical officer, have been reassigned following reports that an elderly patient at the Atlanta VAMC’s Eagles’ Nest Community Living Center...
Nearly a year after a Government Accountability Office report revealed that the Veterans’ Benefit Administration had been unable to track the quality, accuracy, and timeliness of the outside contractors
CLARKSBURG, WV – Law enforcement officials announced recently that a criminal investigation has been launched to look into the unexplained deaths of as many as 11 patients at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center here. The probe, described as “an ongoing and...
Investigators Say Impaired Clinician Recorded Wrong Diagnoses FAYETTEVILLE, AR – A physician employed by the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks here was indicted by a federal grand jury on a range of charges, including three counts of involuntary manslaughter...
WASHINGTON—Five years after scandal rocked the VA, the agency still does not have a reliable way of tracking patient wait times according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. In 2014, whistleblowers at the Phoenix VAMC revealed that facility leadership...
WASHINGTON—Blue Water Navy veterans who want to file disability claims related to Agent Orange exposure will have to wait until next year to have their claims processed, VA announced last month.
VA’s announcement that it would eliminate paid union-related official time for medical professionals, as of Nov. 15, has drawn a lawsuit from unions representing the agency’s employees.
WASHINGTON — Veterans from earlier eras should have expanded benefits related to family caregiver, but only if they are severely injured, VA officials have told Congress.
VA patients dying of cancer are far less likely to receive excessive and unnecessary end-of-life interventions than those treated by Medicare.
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing the DoD, VA and Homeland Security departments develop a plan to ensure that all new veterans receive mental healthcare for at least one year following their separation from service.
By Annette M. Boyle WASHINGTON—Concerned about how much time clinicians spend reading and responding to emails, the VA is changing its messaging system so that more of their focus can be on patient care. The new approach to the inbox notifications system, developed in...
VA officials sought to reassure lawmakers that the agency is responding appropriately to an oversight report finding that several medical providers who gave harmful care to patients were never reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) or state licensing boards (SLB).
In response to complaints that clinicians at VAMCs lack adequate medical and surgical products to care for veterans, VA conceded it needs to make its product formulary more robust.
