As older adult veterans age and seek care in various settings, many factors can impact their health. Veterans have unique healthcare needs as they age, including frequent multi-morbidity, which can impact their quality of life and functional status1. Some veterans have sustained injuries during their prior military service, and nurse practitioners are often evaluating and treating these problems2.

Recent political changes have expanded veteran’s access to care in the community and support for their caregivers through the creation of the Mission Act of 2018, which includes the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC)3,4. Providing care to these individuals both within veteran administration (VA) and knowing veteran’s access through community care can be difficult to navigate for non-VA and VA providers. This presentation will provide a detailed description of the expansions of access to care (primary, mental health, specialty, and urgent) and caregiver benefits5,6,7,8,9,10,11. By nurse practitioners increasing their awareness of these increased veteran benefits across the continuum of healthcare, they can become better equipped to help veterans seeking care.

References
1. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2004.52355.x
2. https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/11/08/for-many-injured-veterans-a-lifetime-of-consequences/
3. https://missionact.va.gov/
4. https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/s2372/BILLS-115s2372enr.pdf
5. https://www.va.gov/COMMUNITYCARE/pubs/factsheets.asp
6. https://www.va.gov/COMMUNITYCARE/docs/pubfiles/factsheets/MISSION-Act_Current-Future-State.pdf
7. https://www.va.gov/COMMUNITYCARE/docs/pubfiles/factsheets/VHA-FS_MISSION-Act.pdf
8. https://www.va.gov/COMMUNITYCARE/docs/programs/UC_Assistance_Cards.pdf#
9. https://www.va.gov/find-locations/
10. https://www.va.gov/COMMUNITYCARE/programs/veterans/General_Care.asp
11. https://www.caregiver.va.gov/support/support_benefits.asp

Learning Outcome: After completing this learning activity, the participant will be able to assess innovations being used by other professionals in the specialty and evaluate the potential of implementing the improvements into practice.

Katherine Voss AGNP-C

Appearances