How VA is Working to Help Veterans with Long COVID
As of July 2022, VA has diagnosed more than 620,000 Veterans with COVID-19. Of this group, between 4% and 7% may have developed Long COVID symptoms. Those with Long COVID experience persistent, multi-system symptoms at least four weeks post-infection, ranging from mild to debilitating in nature.
To support these Veterans, the VHA Innovation Ecosystem (VHA IE) and the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) have launched an extensive, multi-faceted approach to understanding and treating Long COVID, first with VA’s Long COVID Community of Practice, and then with the Long COVID Integrated Project Team.
Long COVID Community of Practice
Allison Gustavson, PT, DPT, PhD, Health Services Research Investigator with the Center for Care Delivery and Outcomes Research, has been working with VA colleagues across the country since Spring 2021 to understand the current state of Long COVID clinics within VA. Her work resulted in the VA Long COVID Community of Practice. Dr. Gustavson also received support from Amanda Purnell, PhD, Director of Data and Analytics Innovation at VHA IE, and Marian Adly, MSc, White House Presidential Innovation Fellow, and former American Fulbright who studied the 2003 SARS outbreak in Canada.
VA’s Long COVID Community of Practice team is more than 225 physicians, nurses, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, researchers, and VA staff from other disciplines. They help solve patient problems by empowering our VA clinicians with a community to help identify promising therapies to support our Veterans.
VA has equipped health care facilities with Long COVID programs and has more than 20 new programs in development. VA programs provide in-person and virtual care and can deliver multidisciplinary treatment.
Integrated Project Team
Tasked with accelerating efforts to detect and treat Long COVID from the White House, VA developed the Long COVID Integrated Project Team (IPT). Their purpose is to organize, support, and report the progress in establishing both clinical guidance and a system in which Long COVID care, support, and services are accessible to all Veterans across VA no matter where they live.
A goal of the Integrated Project Team was to equip health care providers with a Veteran-centered Whole Health System approach to caring for Veterans with Long COVID. Whole Health is an evidence-informed, multi-disciplinary, personalized, Veteran-driven approach that empowers and equips Veterans to take charge of their health and well-being, and to live life to the fullest.
Recently, the Long COVID PACT Guide was developed and is currently being disseminated to empower our clinicians to better assess, refer, and manage common Long COVID signs, symptoms, and potential subsequent conditions using a Whole Health System approach.
Get Involved and Learn More
If you would like to learn more about these or other Long COVID efforts, or join the VHA Long COVID community of practice, please email VHALongCOVID@va.gov. You can also listen to Episode 4 of the Health Equity Podcast, where Dr. Purnell and Adly discuss their work and the future of digital public service, for which they received recognition from FedHealthIT in their Innovation Awards.
Want to support VHA IE’s innovation revolution? Visit our website to learn more about opportunities for involvement in innovation at VA.
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