After the wait-time scandal at the Arizona VA in 2014, the President Obama signed the law, the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 (Public Law 113-146, “VACAA”) in order to improve access to health care for the Veterans in a timely manner with great bipartisan support (Branchely, 2014). This bill includes several initiatives to improve the current standards of care and decrease wait times. In order to urgently address the situation, the law recommends hiring more resources, introducing ways to promote timely care for Veterans, and increasing accountability. The section 101 of VACAA lists necessary details to bring some positive changes to the organization.…
The interconnectedness of partners and competitors within an industry as large as healthcare in undeniable. Nassar (2007) points out the importance of evaluating these partners and competitors in order to ensure that best practices are being followed and to look for opportunities for improvement. One client of the Department of Veterans Affairs is the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) organization. The VFW home website, located at http://www.vfw.org/home/, has easy to find links to obtain information and assistance in filing VA compensation claims. The VFW website appears to perform a service to the VA, and to veterans, by alerting eligible veterans to methods and processes for accessing earned benefits.…
Abstract: Improving Post-Hospitalization follow-up for Veterans who are admitted into Non-VA facilities Objectives: VA policy mandates Non-VA facilities to notify the VA Transfer Center or Fee Basis department about Veterans’ admissions to initiate possible transfers and reviews for reimbursement. Since there is a lack of communication, primary care teams are not aware of the Veterans’ admissions. Consequently, Veterans who are admitted into Non-VA facilities do not receive appropriate and timely post-hospitalization care with their VA primary care teams. The objective of this quality improvement project is to improve post-hospitalization follow-up for Veterans who are admitted into Non-VA facilities by facilitating communications among Transfer…
Over a period of several months WWP worked in concert with many veterans organizations to correct this injustice to veterans. Ultimately, WWP decided to focus their efforts on gaining attention of Congressmen and women to change the policy for the VA. “The combined efforts of the coalition included multiple trips to Capitol Hill, a series of letters to members of Congress, as well as channeling public support in the form of an online petition, thousands of emails to lawmakers, and social media” (WWP, 2016). The use of these online sources did not require the use of any funds from WWP.…
Due to my Veterans Disability rating, I am required to attend scheduled medical appointments at the Veteran’s Administration Health Clinic . Sometimes I am unable to reschedule appointments because of the vast amount of veterans seeking medical attention such as myself. When possible, I try to schedule my appointments around school related obligations, mostly, these are routine appointments. There are those appointments that are specific that are administered by specialists, those are rarely or if ever flexible. However, occasionally I do not have the luxury of scheduling at my convenience and when that occurs I do so .…
Hispanics are one of the highest ethic groups in the United States that are uninsured. In addition, the Hispanic population is one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the U.S. The Hispanic population is estimated to increase over the next 25 years to 32 million out of a total of 72 million of the US population (Brice, 2000). The U.S. health care system is currently facing one of its most noteworthy social difficulties in decades in regards to its ability to provide access to medical services to the millions of Americans who have lost their health insurance coverage during the recession. The Affordable Care Act, was signed into law on March 23, 2010 for the purpose of reducing inequalities in insurance coverage and providing access to…
There are many factors that affected the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA); from political, industrial, legal and economics together these external environment factors affected the way that veterans received their services. I will begin to describe how the VA was formed and illustrate how all the factors make what it is called today the Department of Veterans Affairs. The United States has the greatest complete system of assistance for Veterans in the world, this system goes back to 1636, when the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony were at war with the Pequot Indians. During that time the Pilgrims passed a law that declared that disabled soldiers would be supported by the colony. Over one hundred years later, the Continental Congress of 1776 stimulated enlistments during the Revolutionary War, by make available pensions to disabled soldiers.…
Another weakness in policy development regarding veterans is the systemic weakness. In the article, It’s Not Just the VA: Systemic Weaknesses Plague Government Agencies Across the Board, Jones discussed how in April 2014, 40 veterans died waiting for appointments at the Pheonix Veterans Affairs Health Care System. Jones attributed this to outdated information systems, lack of workplace force, and the benefits taking the form of entitlements, ultimately reducing the discretion that policy makers can exercise when adjusting benefits to accommodate emerging needs and changing costs…
The health care system in America is very diverse with different races and cultural groups from a different part of the world. We also have a lot of vulnerable patients from low-income families and people of color; as nurses, we have the duty and responsibilities to advocate for these patients fairly with no discrimination to provide them with the care they need. The purpose of this discussion post is to describe ethical dilemma, health disparities and the current population health, discuss the pros and cons of health care reform and the Affordable Care Act and the principles of Social Justice and Human Rights Protection in the Reduction of Health Disparities. Ethical Dilemma associated with State of Population and Health Disparities An ethical…
Veterans deserve a right to health care, like all…
Is the government really granting veterans the health care and resources they need in order to survive once they arrive to their home land? Do you think that maybe just maybe the government focuses way too much attention towards funding the military instead of troops that have returned with some kind of disability or mental issue? I believe that the government is making a huge mistake on how they are granting health care towards a big group of individuals who fought for our country and for them not to be able to receive the proper care is a disgrace. These veterans should be established the best of care just for the simple fact that they have fought for our freedom and have gone through tough situations, which could be death related. The government as well does not offer enough…
Lastly, the health care disparities, traditions, norms, belief, values, and attitudes towards veterans’ health care and impact these disparities can have on health care service utilization and nursing care will be examined. Overview…
Veterans are not getting the care that they need. To begin, veterans in cities have to wait a long period of time to get the appointment that they need. Individuals who use VA Regional office can wait up to twelve to eighteen before getting an appointment ("introduction to do Veterans receive adequate health care"1). This is too long of a wait period for some because, some of the veterans have life threatening injuries compared to the common cold. Also, many veterans are not receiving any service.…
The Veterans Affairs department was created in order to assist those who are current and former military personnels. The department is able to provide health and housing benefits that will allow military personnels to live healthy. But the problem for those who are former military personnels, Veterans, are unable to access health and housing benefits due to an end in government contract. In an New York’s Time news article, Homeless veterans: whose responsibility?, Veterans are exasperated that the Veterans Affairs have not created free permanent military housing for Veterans. President Barack Obama, as well as the secretary of The Veterans Affairs, Eric Shinseki, have done nothing to tackle the problem of homeless Veterans.…
These patients’ records were altered having their “deceased” status removed to hide how many people had died awaiting care. Other records were also falsified to show that the patient had already received care or the patient had denied care when they had really requested outside care. Multiple VA facilities were also found to have kept secret waiting lists and many veterans were probably never recorded in official reports. “The VA had for several years been the subject of congressional inquiry and criticism not just due to long waits for care, but because…