The Challenges Of Fakeholder Meetings In The Community

The Veterans Health Administration is home to the United States’ largest integrated health care system consisting of 150 medical centers, nearly 1,400 community-based outpatient clinics, community living centers, Vet Centers and Domiciliary. Together these health care facilities and the more than 53,000 independent licensed health care practitioners who work within them provide comprehensive care to more than 8.3 million Veterans each year. VHA Medical Centers provide a wide range of services including traditional hospital-based services such as surgery, critical care, mental health, orthopedics, pharmacy, radiology and physical therapy. In addition, most of the medical centers offer additional medical and surgical specialty services including audiology & speech pathology, dermatology, dental, geriatrics, neurology, oncology, podiatry, prosthetics, urology, and vision

Since there is no reported data or analyses to help the nation or specific regions and communities assess veterans’ needs for services by geographic area, and to plan for and coordinate service delivery across community-based, TRICARE, and VHA resources; we purpose several general directions for moving forward (Burnam et. al, 2009). The general directions for moving forward include a need for confidentiality, consumer education, treatment choices, workforce policy, training and certification, QI needs, and technical assistance to the

By forming these strong interpersonal relationships and working with the VSO’s I was frequently able to obtain information, support, or concurrence that would allow me to resolve a Veteran’s claim. After moving into various management positions within the Veterans Service Center (VSC) I continued to work towards building and maintaining effective and productive relationships with these and other organizations in order to further the goals and interests of the VSC. I accomplished this by participating in outreach events, focusing on improving relations with the RO’s VHA partners, and by focusing on providing timely responses to requests for information from partners to include, VHA, VSO’s and exam

This paper endeavors to take an in-depth look at the VA and access and analyze some of its programs and policies to judge their effectiveness. With any large organization, there will be issues maintaining the set principles. As each agency strives to operate day to day under the mission established by the federal government and the Pentagon they soon realize that being a civilian working in the VA means service to country as the y seek to administer care to our Vets.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is a government run system that provides benefits to all veterans of the United States military. Along with assisting veterans, it is also a benefit program for the families of the veterans. Many sections of the department are very obvious to those not involved, however there is much more to it than we see. There are three main sub sections of the program. These include the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Veterans Benefits Association (VBA), and the National Cemetery Association (NCA). All this is possible due to the increase in funding over the past decade. The department has grown tremendously since its very beginning in 1636 to what it is today.

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs overseas various Organizations that assist those who have served in the United States of America’s armed forces, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is one of them. Health care is a necessity that is not cheap for Americans. Most veterans qualify for this type of health care, which is a benefit well earned after serving their country. The process can be a lengthy and drawn out for several reasons. Healthcare after all is a business, and in every business organizations there are controversies. Often healthcare is associated with good ethical practices however, that is not always the case. For the past few months there has been a spotlight placed on the VHA, however, this is not the

Participating PCPs must register under the Veterans Choice Program (VCP). The non-VA provider must be a Medicare participant, has a non-constraint state license, drug enforcement administration licensed, have no penalties and furnish a type 1 or type 2 National Provider Identifier (Veteran Services, 2016). Establishing a legal authorization for outpatient care, which is the VA form 10-7079, request for outpatient services (Appendix A). This record is given to both the veteran and the Non-VA provider earlier to receipt of care (A Guide for Providers, 2014). Consent to care is the foundation for carrying out purchased care and the plan for financing a claim appropriately. The authorization allows the non-VA medical entity to give and provide medical care to the veteran patient, and gives a guarantee of reimbursement for the medical services provided. Sufficiently acknowledging the demands of veterans’ desires further than knowledge about rampant existing conditions and special programs structured for veterans (William & Jackson, 2015). Included in this intervention is a tri-fold brochure (Appendix B) that will be available in the primary care practices that will help in understanding peer support specialist services in the VHA. The objective of this peer support program tri-fold brochure is to present contingency for Veterans to take responsibility in their own rehabilitation, to make Veterans cognizant of the procurable services and opportunities, to help Veterans establish a sense of wellbeing and self-satisfaction and to carry out a unique attitude to the therapeutic teams on which they strive to work on (Ellison et al.

Reimbursement under VBP involves both clinical and patient satisfaction targets. In order to measure the patient satisfaction aspect, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey is conducted by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare. This external report contains useful information regarding the patients’ perspectives of hospital care, and can be compared at a local, regional, and national level. Individual health care institutions can then use this data to determine quality areas in need of improvement. Overall, there is an emphasis on the healthcare institution’s ability to deliver “patient centered” care.

Similarly, during my previous internship at the BAC article 31 clinic, and because of my veteran status, often times I was asked by my field supervisor, who is also the agency program director, to tap into VA resources to gather additional resources that could be useful for the agency in response to working with veteran clients who are receiving treatment in the BAC agency (Bridging Access to Care). In the context of the use informal structure within the BAC article 31 clinic, I also believe that the efforts put forth in developing and building a relationship with the agency program director, to include contact relationships within the VA institution in support of additional services for veteran clients; exemplify practice forms of informal

Butler, Deputy Director for Health Care, Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Division, The American Legion noted that they have tracked staffing shortages across all VA facilities in the U.S. Which has caused communication breakdowns between medical center staff and management to provide care for our veterans. Mr. Butler cited that the American Legion supports section 2,3,4,5,8,9,11,14 and 15 of the drafted legislation to improve hiring practices at the VA. However the American Legion has concerns with section 7, citing that the VA has over half of their leadership position held by employees on an “interim” basis. If such positions are only needed on an “interim” basis the American Legion wishes to see these positions removed in order to make room for more qualified professionals on a full time

For this activity, I attended a Health Care City Council Meeting hosted by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, on September 5, 2014, located on 350 S. Bixel St., Los Angeles, CA 90017. The duty of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce defends economic opulence and quality of life for the Los Angeles region by being the voice for business, encouraging teamwork and aiding members grow (Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, 2007). Their goal is to help improve the business climate and quality of life in a community, usually by advocating, networking with others, and by developing business programs. The L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation was first established in 1970 to carry out the charitable and education objectives of the L.A. Area Chamber. They have been the leaders of business for over 125 years. They put their efforts by building connections that will later help improve education and overall quality of life and welfare for the citizens of Southern California (Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, 2007).

By bringing awareness to the issues plaguing veterans and raising money for treatment, this organization can expand their services to reach more veterans in need. This organization does not require as many resources to operate as larger organizations, due to partnering with local facilities to refer patients for treatment. The Headstrong Project has a very small administrative team consisting of an Executive Director, Medical Director, Clinical Director, Directors of Development, Community Outreach and Marketing. This keeps operating costs low and puts more money into the hands of the

When reviewing the HCAHPS survey results it is important to look at the demographic of the community the organizations service area. The HCAHPS survey is distributed to a random sample of adult patients discharged from the hospital. The survey has twenty-seven questions, categorized by ten domains. The domains address communication, pain control, cleanliness of the rooms, an overall hospital rating, and if patients would recommend the hospital. Even though it is well established that patient-centered organizational change has the most influence on HCAHPS scores, there is evidence that ethnicity and lower socioeconomic standing lowers HCAHPS scores and the patient’s perception of care (Elliott et al., 2015).

The need for a strong Patient Advocacy Team is a crucial element when considering any organization’s need to reduce the cost of health care. Today, Health Care Organizations (HCOs) would be best served by examining the highest needs patients, and offering a unique approach to providing quality services by Patient Advocates, or Health Coaches. With the introduction of Patient Advocates, the HCO will see a decrease in cost due to a drop in emergency room visits, and readmissions; in addition to shorter hospital stays within a year of the implementation of such a program.

The source of data that is commonly used in the field of healthcare management are surveys about hospital experience answered by adult inpatients, excluding psychiatric patients. This set of data is referred to as HCAHPS (the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems). It is the first national, standardized, publicly reported, survey of patients’ perspectives of hospital care. HCAHPS Surveys are funded and overseen by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a government agency that is a part of the federal department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The AHRQ does not administer the surveys. Surveys must be administered by a qualified vendor. Vendors become certified by Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS). Three broad goals shape the HCAHPS Survey. First, the survey is designed to produce comparable data on patients' perspectives of care that allows objective and meaningful comparisons among hospitals on topics that are important to consumers. Second, public reporting of the survey results is designed to create incentives for hospitals to improve quality of care. Third, public reporting serves to enhance public accountability in health care by increasing transparency (CMS, 2015).