Benefits Of Access For Quality Care

Too many veterans in the United States are living on the streets and in need of a permanent shelter. A home, a place to call their own, is a basic need for anyone. However, after so much time spent living in barracks, or in war zones, this is especially a need for a veteran. The stability of a home is an important part of adjusting to civilian life. There are few programs actually designed to facilitate veterans in finding homes. The percentage of homeless veterans is appalling. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness veterans comprise 8.6 percent of the homeless

Bennett, PhD; Hilary J. Liberty, Ph 2013 107). Prior research has evaluated the prevalence of MH concerns and opportunities for treatment at various points in the military/veteran career including post deployment, among those being treated at Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities, and in the general population) (Andrew Golub, PhD; Peter Vazan, PhD; Alexander S. Bennett, PhD; Hilary J. Liberty, Ph 2013 107). The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) data indicate that a substantial portion of young veterans in the general population have substance use disorder (18%) or Serious Psychological Distress (SPD) (14%) (Andrew Golub, PhD; Peter Vazan, PhD; Alexander S. Bennett, PhD; Hilary J. Liberty, Ph 2013 111). All in all, the NSDUH proved to be an extremely valuable resource for this study, and indeed, the results of this analysis for unmet treatment needs have identified important directions for further research into reasons for not getting treatment, especially for SPD (Andrew Golub, PhD; Peter Vazan, PhD; Alexander S. Bennett, PhD; Hilary J. Liberty, Ph 2013 113). The Veterans Administration and National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) are taking steps in the right direction to help our veterans with their unmet needs with substance abuse and PTSD. Some examples of improvements are, better mental health evaluations before leaving active duty, more information about military service, and tracking trends among veterans in the general population, who are not necessarily in contact with the

This study strives to increase the awareness of healthcare disparities among veterans in hopes that veterans can receive the best healthcare possible. This study has the potential to change the structure of veterans’ health care. If their health care is damaged to the extent that some insiders and outsiders believe it to be, then hopefully the veterans’ health care system can be restructured. These disparities can be addressed in community outreach programs to expand common knowledge on the subject.

Improving access to care is imperative to seeing healthcare costs decrease. The cost that could be saved with increased patient access could be as high as $5.2 million (Hamlin, 2015). Access to care affects many aspects of healthcare that are not obvious. For example, patient experience, outcomes, and compliance are all better because of increased access to care.

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).

In the past few years there has been increasing discussion about how to provide adequate care for the increasing number of veterasn who are eligible for care through the Veterans’ healthcare administration (VHA). There are concerns is that the VHA is not providing the level of access, efficiency, and quality of care that veterans expect. Lee & Begley, (2016) suggest access to care for the veteran population may be resulting in poor health outcomes. In response to these concerns, the Veterans ' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act (VACAA) of 2014, also known as the Veterans Choice Act, was created to improve Veterans’ healthcare. The VACAA proposed to do this by expanding the number of options veterans have for receiving healthcare, by providing access for healthcare at non-VA care centers as well as providing for an increase in staffing at VA facilities (U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2016).

According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, there are more than 1,500 locations to receive treatment and care across the country, which divides up to approximately 30 locations per state. The lack of locations may limit some veterans from receiving the care they desire. “Veterans who utilize VA services have worse health status that the general population” (Nelson, Taylor, Lurie, Escarce, McFarland, & Finn, 2011). This implies that the services offered are not sufficient enough to meet the needs of veterans. According to Jack Downing, President and CEO of Soldier On, “Seventy percent of veterans drive twenty-five miles or more to a VA facility.” These facts prove that we need more access for veterans so that they can get the

Current funding for veteran healthcare care is low and insufficient because of the large number of veterans, who are being discharged from the military as the country transitions to a democratic President. According to Dr. Rachel Nardin in her article about veteran healthcare, “Soldiers get excellent acute care when injured on active duty, but as revelations of poor conditions for soldiers receiving ongoing outpatient care at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center highlighted, service members often have trouble getting the care they need once active duty ends” (Nardin 1)

Rates of trauma and mental illness are reported to be disproportionately higher among American veterans, especially those of the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The barriers to care after civilian reentry further disadvantage this already vulnerable population. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been the longest sustained US military operations since the Vietnam era, sending more than 2.2 million troops into battle and resulting in more than 6,600 deaths and 48,000 injuries. Veterans are at risk mental health challenges, as well as family instability, elevated rates of homelessness, and joblessness. Veterans have disproportionate rates of mental illness, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse disorders, depression, anxiety, and military sexual trauma.

Many veterans are unable to leave behind the trauma of Vietnam and psychologically return home. They struggle with a variety of extremely severe problems that neither they nor their families, friends, or communities knew how to understand

In the last decade, over 1 million United States’ service members have been dispatched to conflict inflicted areas in the Middle East. As a result, there is also an increase in the number of veterans returning home from service due to either injury, illnesses, expiration of their time in combat, or discharge. Most of the veterans, however, have several health issues which they developed or experienced after deployment ., and access to care has become an issue for many of them. Therefore, the dDevelopment of new and innovative interventions meant to address these health issues has become a national priority. This chapter contains an overview of Vveterans’ healthcare needs and the issues they face while accessing healthcare. The significance

Lincoln made a promise stated, “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan”. This quote is being neglected by us as Americans in trying to provide for our veterans. Do the research and you will see that veterans who have served for our country are living homeless. Also, thousands of veterans are forced to buy food stamps and they struggle to feed their families. Veterans in hospitals who suffer from PTSD attempt to commit suicide more than you would think. In this essay, I’m going to explain how our government can help provide better housing, food benefits, and ways we can help provide better mental health facilities.

Many challenges still remain as Iraq and Afghanistan veterans seek available access to mental health care. These challenges include the resistance and stigma to seek care, lack of

Many health care leaders and practitioners recognize the challenges of utilization of acute care resources in areas of rapid growth. Per Potter and Hoque’s publication Texas Population Projection 2010 to 2025, completed for the Office of the State Demographer; “Much of the population growth is projected to come from the large urban counties of Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, and Travis” (2013, p. 4). “Homeless male veterans have greater medical and mental health needs compared to non-veteran homeless male counter parts and less likely to utilize community health centers” (O’Toole, et al., 2003, p. 930). Texas has one of the highest homeless veteran populations in the United States (US) (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (USDHUD), 2013 p. 40). Many high risk patients, such as the chronically ill homeless veteran, are incessantly making choices that make them exposed and disposed to poor health (O’Toole et al., 2011, p. S683) and use of emergency based care (O’Toole et al., 2011, p. S689). Therefore, the purpose of this proposal is to identify community resources for chronically ill homeless veterans to utilize for care, in place of limited number of acute care beds in precipitously growing cities and counties in the state of Texas. The cultural, religious, spiritual and ethical backgrounds of veterans is very diverse, similarly to the nation they protected.

When choosing a health care plan, a patient is given a wide range of choices because of health care access options. Patients are more involved with health care choices than in the past by being able to compare different policies and choosing a plan that fits their needs. Having access to health care, which includes insurance, plays a crucial part in the ability to receive preventive services. Diabetic health care access options are available for all ages. Local community health clinics are a good option for patients who are worried about care cost by offering free care or charge a small fee. Diabetic patients may need specialty care provided by podiatrists, ophthalmologists, and endocrinologists. Diabetic patients need to have access clinics