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As we wrap up a year full of change and progress, I want to address a continued challenge we’re facing—that directly impacts Veteran’s access to care: staffing shortages.
As many of you know, VHA needs to hire 52,000 employees per year over the next 5 years to keep pace with the increased need for care and to maintain a healthy, vibrant workforce. That’s why one of VHA’s top priorities is to hire faster and more competitively. VA hired 2,400 nurses and made history by employing more frontline providers than ever before in the fiscal year ending in September. This means more support for community care staff at local facilities allowing us to improve access, outcomes, and experience for Veterans and beneficiaries.
Through efforts like the recent VHA Onboarding Surge Event (OSE), we are hiring more quickly while improving how we cultivate and retain staff across all levels and roles. This is occurring through VHA’s Reduce Employee Burnout and Optimize Organizational Thriving (REBOOT) initiative, making improvements in the workplace using All Employee Survey (AES) results, and increasing leadership training and mentorship opportunities.
Separately, I want to welcome Hillary Peabody, our new Deputy Assistant Under Secretary for Health for IVC. She will help to lead IVC’s efforts to enhance access to care for Veterans and beneficiaries. Ms. Peabody is experienced in leading large scale, high-visibility transformation initiatives for health care payers, providers, and integrated delivery systems. She joins us from Evolent Health, where she led numerous health plan products, process implementations, and many initiatives on behalf of VA, including organizational design support to the former Office of Community Care. Please join me in welcoming her to IVC Family!
From my family to yours, I wish you a safe and Happy Holiday season!
Miguel H. LaPuz, MD, MBA
Assistant Under Secretary for Health
for Integrated Veteran Care
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IVC recently launched a data issue management dashboard pilot to help improve data discrepancies and issues within our administrative systems. The project includes systems which utilize data IVC depends on such as Community Care Referral and Authorization, Provider Profile Management System, ClaimsXM, and the Program Integrity Tool. The dashboard allows users to report data issues, alert coordinators of discrepancies and their sources and help enable a prompt resolution. The dashboard is the first step in a three-tiered approach to data issue management.
The ability to share quality data is critical and can impact Veterans’ health care experience. Therefore, if you experience issues with truncated, missing, or duplicated data, please notify the data management team using the form below to resolve them quickly.
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Check out the user guide to learn more about identifying potential data issues.
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To report data issues, please complete the form and submit it here.
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For questions, contact Sherry Andrews, Project Manager (Sherry.andrews@va.gov) or Ferenc Ayer, Portfolio Manager (Ferenc.ayer@va.gov).
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Scripts are available for referral coordination team members including referring providers, clinical and administrative staff to support you when communicating with Veterans about their care options. The scripts are part of the Referral Coordination Initiative (RCI) and support:
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Empowering Veterans to make the right care decision
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Providing and answering questions related to eligibility criteria for community care and other care options
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Improving Veterans overall referral scheduling experience by being a “one-stop shop” resource
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Support
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VA medical centers (VAMCs) vary widely in size, structure, and care availability, creating the need for unique staffing models.
RCI Staffing Model Guidance can help you determine the most appropriate staffing model to organize and staff your Referral Coordination Team (RCT). The guidance provides flexibility in determining the best way to reach desired staffing and productivity outcomes based on your facility’s structure and staffing availability.
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Submit staffing model guidance questions through the Q&A Dashboard.
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CommCare CRM phase 2 postponed until Spring 2023
The Community Care Customer Relationship Management (CommCare CRM) Phase 2 national deployment is being rescheduled to Spring 2023. The purpose is to ensure all feedback from the PATS-R and billing escalation pilots is incorporated, improving user efficiency.
This will have no impact on current CommCare CRM users
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CommCare CRM Recurring Office Hours:
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National Office Hour (Monthly) for all CommCare CRM users: Last Wednesday of the month, 3 p.m. ET. Call 404-397-1596, Conference ID: 27613980959.
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Super User Office Hour (Monthly) for VISN/VAMC Super Users and Community Care managers: Second Tuesday of the month, 2 p.m. ET. Call 872-701-0185, Conference ID: 222819197.
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Training & Education
Course: HealthShare Referral Manager (HSRM) Tasking Functionality for Care Coordination provides facility community care staff with guidance to perform HSRM tasking functionality for referral management and care coordination activities including, sharing referral and medical documentation, scheduling community care appointments, conducting care coordination follow-up, and closing HSRM referrals when episodes of care are complete.
TMS ID VA 4561011
Course: Immediate Need Pharmacy Benefit: Improving the Veteran Experience One Prescription at a Time describes how this updated benefit expands access to timely, high-quality care by providing Veterans with needed urgent/emergent medications when access to a VA pharmacy is not available. This training introduces the pharmacy benefit and process as well as tools to help facilitate prescribing medications and locating participating pharmacies.
TMS ID VA 4620499
Course: Back to Basics: An Integrated Informatics & Analytics (IIA) Reporting Primer Series provides a concise set of modules to guide learners through high-level topics within Power BI and the IIA process, including exporting data, filtering, and navigating the app.
TMS ID VA 4627622
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Resources
Questions
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