Veterans
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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – American Legion Post 194 will host a blood drive in February.
The drive will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5, at the post, located at Second Street and Gaddy Lane in Kelseyville.
The public is invited to donate.
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WASHINGTON, DC – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is creating a new office to develop personal, patient-centered models of care for veterans who receive health care services at VA's more than 1,000 points of care across the nation.
"VA has become one of the Nation's leaders in quality health care and is increasingly cited as the standard to emulate," said VA Under Secretary for Health Dr. Robert A. Petzel. "However, we must always continue to find ways to deliver more with our systems to the incredible patients we are honored to serve. We need to be data-driven, providing the treatments and therapies with the best clinical evidence, and we need to be patient-centered, never losing sight that we have been given the
noble mission to care for our nation's veterans, families and survivors."
The new VA Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation began operations on Jan. 17 and is based in Arlington, Va.
The office's director, Dr. Tracy Williams Gaudet, comes to VA from Duke University Medical Center where she has served as the executive director of Duke Integrated Medicine since 2001. Dr. Gaudet received her bachelor of arts and medical degrees from Duke University.
"The VA's vision and commitment to cultural transformation comes at a pivotal moment for health care in this country, and I am deeply honored to be joining VA in this important work," said Dr. Gaudet. "The Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation will be a living, learning organization in which we will discover and demonstrate new models of care, analyze the results, and then create strategies that allow for their translation and implementation across the VA. VA will
continue to be a national leader in innovation, and, in this way, we will provide the future of high-quality health care to our veterans."
The VA Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation will have four regional implementation teams at select VA medical centers across the country: Birmingham, Ala; East Orange, N.J.; Dallas; and Los Angeles.
Each VA medical center was selected for excellence already demonstrated in producing cultures of patient-centered care based on established criteria. These regional teams, comprised of patient-centered care consultants, will be responsible for facilitating the culture change for patient-centered care at all VA facilities.
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“While there is no time limit for veterans to apply for the VA health care they earned with their service, I highly encourage this group of combat veterans to take advantage of the enhanced enrollment window to use their health care benefits through this simplified process,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “VA has health care eligibility specialists online and at every medical center eager to help veterans take advantage of this opportunity.”
The enhanced enrollment window was provided for in Public Law 110-181, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008. That law gave combat veterans who served after Nov. 11, 1998 but separated from service before Jan. 28, 2003, and did not enroll before Jan. 28, 2008, three years, beginning on Jan. 28, 2008, to apply for the enhanced enrollment opportunity.
These veterans will still be able to apply for health benefits with VA after Jan. 27, but will have their status for receiving VA health care determined under normal VA procedures that base health care priority status on the severity of a service-connected disability or other eligibility factors.
This would mean some veterans could face income or asset-based restrictions, as well as delays in establishing their VA health care eligibility while their disability status is determined.
Since the inception of the enhanced enrollment opportunity, VA has sent more than 750,000 personal letters to eligible veterans and hosted thousands of outreach efforts through OIF/OEF and enrollment coordinators stationed at every VA medical center.
Since June 2010, VA sent another 194,000 personal letters to give every eligible veteran a chance to take advantage of this opportunity, but to date only 13,000 of these veterans have enrolled.
The law does continue to provide the enhanced health care enrollment window to combat veterans who were discharged or released from active service on or after January 28, 2003.
For these veterans, the five-year enrollment period begins on the discharge or separation date of the service member from active duty military service, or in the case of multiple call-ups, the most recent discharge date.
Veterans can apply for enrollment online at www.1010ez.med.va.gov/sec/vha/1010ez , by contacting VA at 1-877-222-VETS (8387) or with the help of a VA health care eligibility specialist at any VA medical center.
Go to www2.va.gov/directory/guide/home.asp for locations.
For more information regarding enrollment, visit VA's eligibility site at www.va.gov/healtheligibility.
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“We believe in our mission to provide the best care anywhere for veterans,” said VA Under Secretary for Health Dr. Robert Petzel. “This posted report shows we are providing high quality overall and identifies the areas where we have opportunities to improve.”
This is the third year VA is posting the annual report and the second year to do so voluntarily.
The Quality and Safety Report, at www1.va.gov/health/HospitalReportCard.asp, provides a comprehensive snapshot of the quality of care VA provides at each of 153 medical facilities across the nation.
When compared to private sector plans, VA's findings showed higher quality marks for VA health care.
VA used industry-standard measures to score the quality of the care it delivers, and the report shows that, overall, VA's scores are better than private sector health plans.
In addition to allowing VA to provide the public with an accounting of the quality and safety of its care, the report cards provide an opportunity for VA to make improvements where clinical indicators reflect cause for concern.
For instance, the findings related to quality of care for women and the perceptions of quality of care by ethnic minorities highlight that VA shares the same challenges as the private sector in providing equal care to all patients.
Committed to reversing these trends, VA has responded to these challenges in a variety of ways.
For example, VA is evaluating emergency room (ER) care for women, rolling out an education plan for ER providers, implementing breast cancer registry to assist in followup of abnormal mammograms, and training 400 more providers in basic and advanced “mini-residencies” in women's health.
Also, VA medical centers and clinics each have a minority veterans program coordinator to provide outreach to minority veterans, as well as educate and sensitize VA staff to minority needs.
The coordinators advocate for minority veterans by identifying gaps in services and making recommendations to improve service delivery.
“I hope every veteran across America reads the report and learns more about the quality health care they have earned from a grateful nation,” Petzel said. “VA will build from these results, addressing concerns where needed and building even stronger programs where there has been success. I am proud of the VA staff who serve veterans every day.”
The annual Facility Quality and Safety Report is just one of several public postings of various health care quality metrics for VA's medical facilities.
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“Since the first GI Bill in 1944, this unique educational program has adapted to the needs of America's veterans, active-duty personnel, reservists and guardsmen,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “Like its forbearers, the Post-9/11 GI Bill is growing to ensure the men and women who serve this nation in uniform receive valuable education benefits from a grateful nation.
On behalf of veterans, Shinseki thanked the president, members of Congress and veterans service organization partners for helping make the bill a reality.
Among the provisions of the legislation are:
– Paying for on-the-job training, some flight training; apprenticeship training and correspondence courses;
– Allowing reservists and guardsmen to have their time supporting emergencies called by their state governors credited to the time needed to qualify for educational benefits;
– Providing one half of the national average for the program's housing allowance to students enrolled in distance learning;
– Pro-rating the housing allowance to exclude payments when students are not in class;
– Allowing students on active duty receive the stipend for books and supplies;
– Allowing people eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill, but participating in VA's Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) benefits to choose between the GI Bill's housing allowance or VR&E's subsistence allowance;
– Permitting reimbursement for more than one “license and certification” test;
– Reimbursing fees to take national admission tests, such as SAT, ACT, GMAT and LSAT; and
– Establishing a national cap of $17,500 annually for tuition and fees in a private or a foreign school, not including contributions by educational institutions under the "Yellow Ribbon" program.
Information about the new provisions is available on the Internet at www.gibill.va.gov.
By the end of December 2010, VA issued nearly $7.2 billion in tuition, housing and stipends for more than 425,000 veterans or eligible family members pursuing higher education under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
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The show is broadcast every other Friday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Lake County Veterans Service Officer Robert Penny and Dean Gotham, president of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 951, host the show.
Veterans, relatives and friends are encouraged to call during the live broadcast to discuss Veterans Affairs benefits, regulations or any other questions regarding the VA.
The studio phone is 707-263-3435.
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“VA is committed to doing business with as well as supporting and protecting veteran-owned small businesses,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “Although the verification process may initially be a challenge to some small business owners and to VA, it's a necessary step to eliminate misrepresentation by firms trying to receive contracts that should go to service-disabled and other veteran-owned vendors.”
The Veterans Benefits Act of 2010, signed by President Barack Obama on Oct. 13, expanded VA's requirement to verify the status of businesses claiming veterans preference to compete for VA contracts by being listed in VA's www.VetBiz.gov “Vendor Information Pages” (VIP) database.
Companies will have to submit an application to substantiate their status as owned and controlled by Veterans, service-disabled veterans or eligible surviving spouses. Only companies that submit the information will be listed in the VIP database.
The law requires VA to notify currently listed businesses that within 90 days of the veteran-owned business receiving the notice they must submit certain business documents.
VA sent notices to more than 13,000 listed businesses by email and mail Dec. 10-11.
Other companies, wanting to be listed in the database and considered for future set-aside VA contracts, also have to submit application packages. VA will work on those verifications after the existing listings are verified.
The department plans to post additional information at www.VetBiz.gov in early February informing applicants how to submit their documents electronically.
In the meantime, VA's notice to currently listed businesses encourages them to submit their information on CD-ROM.
Priority processing will be given to those veteran-owned firms that are in line to receive a set-aside contract from VA, those that already conduct business with VA, and those that have already filed an application for verification.
For more information, visit the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization's Web site at
www.va.gov/OSDBU/veteran/verification.asp or the main page at www.va.gov/osdbu/.
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The potluck will start at 6 p.m., with the meeting at 7 p.m.
The group will meet at Saint Mary Immaculate Parish Hall, 801 N. Main St.
All Vietnam-era veterans, veterans of all eras, their families and friends, and members of the general public are cordially welcomed.
Contact the group at www.vva951.org/contact.html.
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WASHINGTON, DC – The Social Security Administration has announced that no cost-of-living adjustments will be made to Social Security benefits in 2011 because the consumer price index has not risen since 2008 when the last Social Security increase occurred.
Like recipients of Social Security and other federal benefits, veterans, their families and survivors will also not see a cost-of-living adjustment in 2011 to their compensation and pension benefits from the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Under federal law, the cost-of-living adjustments to VA's compensation and pension rates are the same percentage as for Social Security benefits.
VA provides compensation and pension benefits to about four million veterans and beneficiaries.
For more information about VA benefits, go to www.va.gov.
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