The VHA scheme presents an issue when it comes to highly rural veterans since only half of the Highly Rural enrollees reside within an hour of primary care. Approximately 70% of rural veterans still have to travel for more than two hours in order to get to acute care facilities and more than four hours to obtain tertiary care (West, et al). The discrepancy between the RUCA distances to the VA and the actual drive times are why The American Legion endorses the VA developing their own criteria for determining rural and highly rural veterans based on drive times rather than the US. (Legion.org)
The Problem with Distance
The problem with distance is that many rurally based veterans have to drive several hours in order to receive specialty
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The main cause of this is the disparity between federal and private sector salaries. In an effort to remedy this situation, due to the number of enrollees who reside in rural or highly rural communities, the VA offers recruitment and retention bonuses along with student loan repayment in order to entice physicians to work in rural areas.
This is why the VHA has attempted to make rural outreach a priority, by creating the Office of Rural Health to address the concerns and needs of rural veterans. The biggest of these concerns involved lack of access to healthcare because of transportation difficulties that include travel distances, lack of transportation, or the inability to drive, these issues affect 33% of rural residents (Buzza, et. al.). According to Mooney et al., rural veterans travel farther to VHA hospitals than to non-VHA hospitals because of the 153 VHA hospitals in existence less than 38 of them are located in rural or highly rural areas. Buzza et. al., found three themes that influenced rural veterans ability to obtain VHA healthcare; the first is predictably distance, which is influenced by such things as age, health and functionality. Many elderly and disabled veterans can no longer drive and may not have access to public transportation or people who are willing to drive them such great
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Notably, the VHA is not happy with the lack of control they have over the situation. The VHA claims this is because private physicians do not always bother to share or obtain information regarding a patient’s health.The third theme is distance to acute and emergency services, which is seen as potentially life threatening situation for veterans and a complex burden for primary care clinics. Finally theme four, which is CBOC’s that appear to be a positive step towards providing primary care access points, though many would like them to provide a larger array of
The purpose of this memo is to clarify the need for the modification of Option Year 3 of the Associated Veterans Contract to include a change in the labor categories and have an additional three months added to the period of performance. When the contract was initiated, OSP anticipated that many major VBA Transformation changes would be ramping down and in effect. For this reason, Option Period 3 included one Senior Project Manager (SPM), two Project Managers (PM), and two Project Management Assistants (PMS) for a period of nine months. As we stand, the Veterans Benefits Administration’s (VBA) Transformation changes and efforts continue to ramp up and expand.
The physician assistant profession was created to improve and expand healthcare based on demands in the mid 1960’s when physicians realized there was a shortage of primary care physicians. Happening concurrently was an influx of men returning from Vietnam War who were well trained and experienced in addressing medical emergencies such as traumas. To help this Eugene Stead Jr, MD, of the Duke University Medical Center, put together the first class in 1965. He selected four Navy Hospital Corpsmen who had extensive medical training while abroad at war. Stead based his teachings on his knowledge of the fast paced training of doctors serving in World War II.
This area was therefore scored at a one. By including Veterans who receive care at the facility in the planning and development of new programs, this local population may be better served. Their insight into the facility arrangement, patient flow, and education would be valuable.
Shull oversees transportation for veterans. Each day, two vans carry veterans to VA facilities in Canton and Cleveland. Those who come into the office seeking immediate assistance for emergencies can get help with their mortgage, utilities and food.
So yes Veterans still face challenges today like going back to their families and flash backs from
That’s why it makes perfect sense to expand and reconstruct the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to undertake such a massive service. Veterans don’t deserve to be treated like this, the forgotten hero’s, now the homeless, and the starving.
Supporting Homeless Veterans Almost 60% of all veterans say that the VA is doing “only fair” or a “poor” job at taking care of the problems faced by serviceman (Chandrasekaren). Current soldiers, as well as veterans, are facing problems like not be able to find a job because of a disability or not receiving compensation for an injury that occurred while in the service. Many wait months upon months just to be seen by a doctor. The men and women protecting this country deserve the best help available, and they are receiving very little or no help at all.
Veterans who served in various eras have the mentality to be a hard worker and believe in the moto, “no pain, no
Veteran Benefits The issue of veteran benefits in the United States is not taken as seriously as it should be in our country, even though it is a growing problem that needs to be addressed. The lack of available funding for veterans is especially obvious when compared to that available for lower income citizens, or even illegal immigrants. Also, what does exist appears to fall short in taking care of veteran’s needs. Considering that these veterans are people who have risked their lives fighting for this country, the fact that they are not receiving immediate benefits or even what they have earned is unfair.
They also would need to go to the va but most veterans don 't live close enough to one to get the help they need. In contrast to all the things that soldiers have gone through they need all the help they need and deserve it. They need to have unlimited money to give all the help to returning soldiers and past soldiers for the sacrifices they gave to this beautiful country. They also deserve to have all their bills paid for by the va and not charged for it because some can 't afford the bills they are given. The ultimate sacrifice they don 't need the burden of bill to stress them out even more to could lead them to hurting themselves
In my opinion, veterans do receive the care they need, but are not provided equal amount of care. Hopefully, with Donald Trump supporting the veterans, during his presidency he will be capable of providing the veterans more support and equality to benefit the veterans needs as well as their
Most veterans who have mental illness, mostly PTSD, do not know how to get help. About eleven percent of the adult homeless population are veterans .The veterans who are suffering from PTSD do not want to get help mostly because they do not have the funds to get the help they need or they are afraid of seeking help. If the government would give more funding to the Veteran Affairs or other organizations, it would be easier for homeless veterans to find the help that they
Veteran Homelessness On any given night, approximately 49,000 American veterans are homeless, men and women that served our country and fought for our freedom (Unique Issues). Most are suffering from traumatic brain injuries, physical disabilities, and some are over the age of 50 (Unique Issues). Veteran homelessness continues to be a persistent problem. A system in which increased funding goes to housing and providing care to veterans would drastically help these peoples if not homelessness will continue to grow because of the United States’ involvement in the Middle East.
Secondly, some veterans will come back from war and if they were shot or experienced heavy damage to the head, they can have severe brain injuries and when they’re homeless and they don’t have much help, that can be horrible for the homeless veterans. Lastly, while veterans are fighting in wars, if they get shot or a grenade goes
During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress of 1776 encouraged enlistments by authorizing pensions for soldiers who were disabled. Later, individual states and even communities provided medical and hospital care to veterans. There is an increased need for extensive medical and disability benefits for veterans as medical technology is better able to save the lives of the soldiers. The increase in women veterans is also an issue at hand because