“The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to pause its community care program in order to free space across private health care systems for coronavirus patients and to prevent veterans’ exposure.”
“The department will stop sending veterans outside of the VA for non-urgent and routine appointments. In an email to members of Congress on Tuesday night, officials said the VA will review appointment requests on a case-by-case basis and determine whether to refer veterans to private doctors in non-emergency situations. The VA will continue to refer veterans to the community for urgent medical needs ‘when necessary.’”
“The VA’s community care program sends veterans to private-sector doctors in certain cases, including when veterans must wait longer than 20 days for an appointment or drive more than 30 minutes to reach their VA health care provider. Those standards were put into effect last year under the VA Mission Act, a measure President Donald Trump touted as recently as Monday.”
“’Completing non-urgent and routine health care appointments to meet access standards put veterans at risk of contracting COVID-19,’ the agency wrote to lawmakers. ‘This is true for both VA and community health care providers. [The Veterans Health Administration] thus proposes a temporary, strategic pause.’”
“The VA first told lawmakers it intended to ignore those standards for the next 90 days or until routine care can safely resume. On Wednesday, VA Press Secretary Christina Mandreucci said the measures would be reassessed every 30 days.”
“’VA’s actions are in line with current CDC recommendations and are required to help protect veterans from unnecessary COVID-19 exposure,’ Mandreucci said. ‘Similarly, many community health care systems are taking the same approach, and we anticipate less capacity in the community for routine care in an effort to limit foot traffic in their facilities and help stop the spread of COVID-19.’”
“The VA is enhancing its telehealth capabilities to care for veterans who have non-urgent medical needs, officials told lawmakers. They promised that veterans ‘will still receive necessary and appropriate health care…’” Read the full article here.
Source: VA intends to pause community care program during coronavirus pandemic – By Nikki Wentling, March 25, 2020. Stars and Stripes.
