Case Study: The Veterans Administration

In the past, veterans who disclosed suffering from signs of PTSD encountered a great deal of ignorance and bias. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (n.d.), veterans who had the illness were often considered weak, were rejected by comrades, and even faced discharge from military service. In fact, even physicians and mental health specialists often questioned the existence of the disease, which of course led to society’s misconception of PTSD in general. Sadly because of this existing prejudice it appears even today soldiers are still worried to admit having PTSD symptoms, and therefore they do not receive the proper support they need. While individuals are assured that their careers will not be affected, and seeking help is encouraged, most soldiers see it as a failure to admit having a mental health illness (Zoroya, 2013). Educating military personal of this illness, and making sure no blame is put on the veterans who encounter this disease is therefore vital.

One goal of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is to improve operations and deliver seamless and integrated support (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2014). According to the VA Strategic Plan for 2014-2020, one objective that supports this goal is to make the VA a place that great employees want to work. To make the VA a place where great employees want to work, the organization must be able to hire and recruit the best employees in order to change the culture. One way to better recruit the best employees is to decrease the lengthy hiring process currently in practice at the VA. Recruiting the best employees in term of fit and skill is vital to the Acute Psychiatry department, as well as other specialty areas, because the turnover

In recent years, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has found itself guarding against a tsunami of negative public opinion, unrelenting media coverage and at times, a contentious relationship with the U.S. Congress. Despite these challenges, the administration (VBA) has made enormous strides in reducing the pending inventory of the oldest claims, improving quality, and has undertaken the largest technological transformation in its history. If the VA is to continue to provide timely and quality service to Veterans, VBA must significantly increase enrollment and utilization of Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E), Education programs and continue to streamline and modernize the disability compensation process.

The mission statement of the VA Social Workers is to eliminate significant barriers to clients in need and offer interventions for veterans and families. It is accomplished by developing and maintaining integrated, in-depth programs in patient care, research, and education (Hoffer, Elizabeth. F., Dekle, Judith. Ward., & Sheets, Carol., 2014). Its proposed 11 percent to 20 percent of Iraq, Afghanistan veterans as well as 30 percent of Vietnam vets encounter (PTSD) posttraumatic stress disorder traumatic incidents like combat can lead to PTSD, military sexual trauma of military service member, and veterans may possibly deal with depression, anxiety in addition to other mental health concerns. Vets distress from these mental health and cognitive

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a government-run military veteran benefit system that provides essential financial and medical assistance to veterans and their families that are located all over the world. (www.va.gov) As the country and the military’s needs change, the VA needs to continue to evolve and grow. With this thought in mind, it is necessary to understand how the department is coping with the many different challenges that they are currently facing to effectively address the current issues and policy pitfalls. The most critical issues presently facing the VA, is the concern over long increasing wait-times and backlogs for services, which have emerged since 9/11 and are primarily the result of the growing

The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) is responsible for providing vital services to Americas veterans. Such services include health care, benefit programs, and access to national cemeteries to former military personnel and their dependents. In this case well be discussing the health care system and how it pertains to our veterans. The health benefits provided by the VA should serve as ones’ sole source of health care or as a complement to an already existing plan. As with anything it has its pros and cons.

I work at the veterans’ affair hospitals in Houston and in November 2011, Veteran Health Administration (VHA) committed to developing an outpatient mental health staffing model which comprised an interdisciplinary care team to ensure adequate general outpatient mental health care .

According to a report by CNN in 2016, 307,000 veterans may have died waiting for healthcare from the VA (Devine). Considering that this might not be an outstanding number, it is still a major issue, and presents one of the more prevalent concerns with the VA today. Wait times are one of the most common complaints with the organization, and according to The New American, “The VA has been caught having large-scale problems with unsanitary conditions (spreading diseases), poor care, long waits, corruption (including bribes and kickbacks), enormous waste, inefficiency, falsifying wait lists, denial of services, unnecessary surgeries, and more” (Williamsen). Additionally, one VA audit found that 10% of veterans attempting to obtain medical care at a VA or VHA institution were forced to wait at least 30 days to get an appointment (“The US Veteran Health Care System Is Overwhelmed and Failing”). With a larger budget, the VHA could hire more medical employees to care for their numerous patients, and build more facilities across the country, giving them more space and increasing their capability to aid all veterans who require their services.

1.6. Target Goal: A total of 220 clients per year will be served for a total of 660 clients over three year. Under SAMHSA funding, 14 clients per year are expected to receive expedited psychiatric services. Each of the 14 clients is expected to have an initial consultation and up to 6 medication checks over the course of their participation in the program. A total of 42 clients a year will receive access to culturally appropriate Native American Treatment. A total of 15 clients per year will be placed on SCRAM at some point as a recovery support. A total of 150 clients per year are expected to receive case management services over the course of their participation in the program. Finally, a total of 14 clients per year will receive access to Medically Assisted Treatment. A total of 50 per year CVC clients will be served with Veteran Mentor Services. As a part of BJA funding, a total of 40 clients per year will receive access to seeking safety curriculum. In addition, 50 clients per year in the Veterans Treatment Court will have a screening assessment tool incorporated into the program and an incorporated drug testing system.

Josh Hicks, author at The Washing Post, says that the Veterans Affairs has an ongoing problem of delays in servicing veterans. “Phoenix VA hospital kept delays off the books with secret wait lists that allegedly included dozens of patients who died while waiting for care” (Hicks 1). “Several patients died at an Atlanta clinic because of mismanagement” (Hicks 1). “A Department clinic in Fort Collins, Colorado, falsified appointment records to give the impression that staff doctors saw patients within the agency’s goal of 14 days” (Hicks 1). In addition to these issues, other veterans waiting to hear if their disability claims had been approved for care were waiting in excess of 125 days without determination. Retired four-star Army General Eric Shinseki, serving

Sources of potential participants can be sourced from internal and external to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Possible internal VHA sources of participants could be from one or multiple Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN), and from VHA Hospitals, Medical Centers, Outpatient Clinics, Community Based Outpatient Clinics, and the VA Healthcare System; and also through the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) regional offices. External sources of participants can include Veterans, Private Hospitals, Medical Centers, Clinics and other non-VA Healthcare

The Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) has been tasked with providing support and benefits to Veterans after they have completed their service. However, many Veterans are reporting difficulty accessing care due to systematic barriers within the VA’s Veterans Health Administration (Oliver, 2007). Complex eligibility requirements, long wait lists and lack of providers are a few of the issues Veterans are faced with when trying to access health and mental health care. Additionally, studies indicate that veterans, predominantly those from the recent wars in Iran and Iraq, have disproportionately high amounts of mental illness (Shim & Rust, 2013). These same veterans are experiencing difficulty accessing mental health care due to issues around a backlog of healthcare eligibility applications and a shortage of mental health providers through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which operates the Nation’s largest, integrated health care delivery system (APA, 2014). In 2014, at the request of the Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) evaluated the merit of the allegations of mismanagement at the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) and the Health Eligibility Center (HEC).

“The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is home to the United States’ largest integrated health care system” (Mason e.t. al 2016). Because of technological and medical advancement, surviving injuries from war has lead to a greater need for post deployment and discharge care. I often hear the phrase “Freedom is not free”; the mental health of our active duty soldiers and veterans is one area that ends up costing America. Some lose time with their families, some are injured physically and mentally, and some lose their lives.

For many years, the VA has offered health care to the men and women who have surrendered a large part of their lives to protect our nation. The VA has made great stride in providing specialized services to veterans such as Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Military Sexual Trauma (MST), and Mental Health treatment. In fact, the VA is leading the field on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) research, but now that many of our men and women are returning home from war, the commitment that the VA made to provide accessible health services and a smooth transition from military life back to civilian life to these heroes and their dependents are not being granted in a timely manner. Studies show that suicide among veterans is the number one leading cause of death in the United States and

Today, hundreds of thousands of service men and women and recent military veterans have seen combat. Many have been shot at, seen their buddies killed, or witnessed death up close. These are types of events that can lead to Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder ("Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD: A Growing Epidemic. “) Anyone that has gone through a traumatic event can be diagnosed with PTSD but research shows, military men and women are more susceptible to having PTSD (PTSD: A Growing Epidemic.) And, with little help from the US, many Veterans do not get the help they need or get treated for PTSD. Military men and women begin to