Veterans Post

The American Legion recently released its report on the status of Department of Veterans Affairs health care for women veterans. Members of the System Worth Saving Task Force visited 15 VA facilities in 12 states around the country. Its purpose was to learn what barriers keep women veterans from enrolling in VA health care, to understand the challenges women veterans face, and to make recommendations.

The 2013 Task Force Report on Women Veterans Health Care focused on three points:

1) Women veterans don’t identify themselves as veterans and don’t know about their benefits.

2) VA medical centers don’t use baseline enrollment and marketing and outreach programs to keep women veterans in the health system. Women make up 15 percent of active-duty service members, yet the number of women using VA health care is considerably smaller.

3) Models of care need to be assessed for effectiveness. For example: Women veterans don’t receive mammogram results quickly; VA facilities don’t all have inpatient or residential mental health programs for women; and the childcare pilot program is about to expire.

Here are some results of the survey, both good and bad:

• Women veterans keep their appointments when childcare is available during appointment times.

• Patient file flags about veterans “at risk” for violent behavior stay in-house, and therefore don’t show up on the national records if a patient goes to a different facility.

• Not all facilities are equal. Patients often are required to go to other facilities for care, or even go out of state.

The American Legion program has been in operation for 10 years, visiting VA medical facilities to assess veterans’ health care and offering recommendations to the VA, Congress and other government agencies.

Freddy Groves regrets that he cannot personally answer reader questions, but will incorporate them into his column whenever possible. Send email to [email protected]