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Veterans experiencing acute suicidal crisis have new emergency care access
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Six months remain for special health care enrollment
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Help prioritize Veterans’ whole health
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One Veteran’s struggle with Long COVID
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Prevent Veteran suicide, free training available
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The Veterans Comprehensive Prevention, Access to Care and Treatment Act of 2020 (COMPACT) authorizes VA to provide, pay for or reimburse eligible Veterans – even those who are not enrolled in the VA system – for emergency care when they are in acute suicidal crisis.
As a provider, you are required to ensure public access to emergency services regardless of someone’s ability to pay, as stated by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), and through the COMPACT Act, VA can pay for eligible Veterans’ emergency care.
You may see an increase in patients at your facility as a result of this new benefit because it opens the door for thousands of Veterans who would otherwise be ineligible for VA care. COMPACT authorizes VA to pay for emergency care and ambulance transportation and more, for Veterans in acute suicidal crisis.
Veterans who served prior to September 7, 1980, are eligible if they were discharged from the military under a condition that is not dishonorable or the result of a general court martial.
Veterans who enlisted or were commissioned after September 7, 1980, or entered active duty after October 16, 1981, must have received a military discharge under a condition that is not dishonorable or the result of a general court martial after serving 24 continuous months or the full period for which they were called to active duty, unless:
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They were discharged for a disability that was caused – or made worse – by their active-duty service.
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They were discharged for a hardship or “early out.”
Veterans who were discharged under other than honorable conditions are eligible for this benefit if they:
- Served 100 cumulative days in a combat zone or in support of a contingency operation either directly or by operating an unmanned aerial vehicle from another location.
- Were the victim of a physical assault of a sexual nature, a battery of a sexual nature, or sexual harassment while serving in the armed forces.
You need to properly document when Veteran patients are eligible for COMPACT Act care to ensure coverage at no cost to them. Episodes of Veterans reporting to a community emergency department for treatment should be reported to VA as soon as possible using VA’s Emergency Care Reporting portal, https://EmergencyCareReporting.CommunityCare.va.gov, or by calling 844-72HRVHA (844-724-7842) to establish the Veteran’s eligibility and begin care coordination or transfer to a VA facility.
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Help us alert Veterans that in six months the new health care eligibility window for post-9/11 combat Veterans will close. Created through the PACT Act, the first window of eligibility – a one-year special enrollment period that began October 1, 2022, – now has six months remaining.
Please encourage your Veteran patients to enroll today, so they don’t have to wait for the next window to open! Visit VA.gov/PACT to learn more. Check out the graphic below for more PACT Act resources.
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VA has designated April as Whole Health month, highlighting the importance of putting the person in the center of their health care and recognizing and honoring each person’s culture, values and vision for their lives. Whole health is one of VA’s six health care priorities named by Under Secretary for Health, Shereef Elnahal, MD. As a provider of care to Veterans, you play a critical role in supporting this priority.
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The new video “Long COVID: A Patient’s View,” is about Long COVID from a Veteran’s point of view, focused on using a whole health approach. Please share this Veteran’s story with your colleagues and staff.
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Free training can help you identify the most common lethal means of suicide among Veterans and how to get help for Veterans in crisis. Check out this video and learn from Dr. Miguel LaPuz how you and your colleagues can access the training, provided by VHA’s Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. He also shares information on the “Don’t Wait. Reach Out” awareness campaign.
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E D U C A T I O N & T R A I N I N G
This course discusses evidence-based management of Veterans with chronic pain to improve patient outcomes and decrease incidences of complications related to opioid prescribing. No accreditation offered.
Location: VHA TRAIN
ID#: 1086479
Time: One (1) hour
Whole Health as Suicide Prevention
This course will provide an overview of the whole health system to engage Veterans who are socially connected, engaged in self-care activities and have a trusting relationship with health care team members. The audience for this course includes physicians, nurses, psychologists, counselors, social workers, pharmacists and occupational therapy practitioners.
Date: April 12 at 2 p.m. ET
Location: VHA TRAIN
ID#: 1109016
Access Links: Non-VA employees click here. VA employees click here.
Credit/hours: One (1)
Accreditations: ACCME, ACCME-NP, ACPE, ANCC, AOTA, APA, ASWB, JA IPCE, NBCC, NYSED-P, NYSED SW
This presentation will allow attendees to increase their familiarity with clinical practice guideline recommendations on standardized suicide risk screening and evaluation and learn about real-world examples of how they can be implemented in clinical practice. The targeted audience includes physicians, nurses, psychologists, counselors, social workers, pharmacists and occupational therapists.
Date: May 10 at 2 p.m. ET
Access Links: Non-VA employees click here. VA employees click here.
Accreditations: ACCME, ACCME-NP, ACPE, ANCC, AOTA, APA, APTA, ASWB, JA IPCE, NBCC, NYSED-P, NYSED-SW
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W E B I N A R S & L E C T U R E S
Coming in May!
Now available on VHA TRAIN for non-VA employees!
The May webinar is entitled “Nervous system post-acute sequelae of COVID-19: Lessons from the COVID Mind Study at Yale" and the speaker is Serena Spudich, Gilbert H. Glaser Professor of Neurology; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health, Center for Neuroepidemiology and Clinical Neurological Research. One of Dr. Spudich’s current studies is the nervous system consequences of COVID-19, highlighting the need for systematic neurologic studies of carefully phenotyped individuals with neurological Long Covid symptoms.
The presentation includes a question-and-answer session. Attendees can register at this TMS link to receive credit for the webinar. Select the correct class start date when registering.
DATE & TIME: Wednesday, MAY 3 p.m. ET | (UTC-06:00)
ID#: 1109107
VHA TRAIN Access Links: Non-VA employees click here. VA employees click here
WEBINAR LINK: https://veteransaffairs.webex.com/veteransaffairs/j.php?MTID=m24f2839758da808686bf15a26ae91a06
Webinar number: 2763 401 3157
Webinar password: A8JeSwwg*85 (28537994 from phones)
To join by phone: 404-397-1596, access code: 276 340 13157
Accreditations: JA IPCE, ACCME, ANCC, ACCME-NP, ACPE, APA, NYSED, NYSED-P, NBCC, APTA
About the series
The Long COVID lecture series highlights research on post-acute and long-term outcomes of COVID-19. The series began in summer 2022 within the St. Louis VA Health Care System and was conceived and developed by Uly Labilles, Ph.D, research-health science specialist, Office of Research and Development, and Ziyad A-Aly, MD, research and development service chief.
To be added to the Long COVID Lecture Series distribution list, please email Dr. Uly Labilles.
Numerous live and on-demand webinars and trainings are offered by Optum and TriWest to fit your schedule. Check them out!
Questions? If you require assistance, please contact the VHA TRAIN Help Desk by email at vhatrain@va.gov.
How to obtain your credit completion certificate:
Once you complete a credited training, you can obtain your credential certificate(s) in four easy steps:
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Log in to VHA Train - https://vha.train.org/vha/login
- Go to “Your Learning”
- Go to “Your Certificates”
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Download your certificate
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V E T E R A N S P O T L I G H T
On March 3, 2023, President Biden awarded the Medal of Honor to Ret. U.S. Army Colonel Paris Davis for his remarkable heroism during the Vietnam War. The President stated, “Just as the story of Paris Davis did not begin on June 18, 1965, it does not end there either. Captain Davis went on to become Colonel Davis, serving more than 25 years in our military and earning a PhD on top of that.”
Davis received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Air Medal and the Purple Heart. Following his military career, he founded the Metro-Herald, a newspaper focused on his local community and civil rights issues.
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18-year-old Christine Hunter enlisted in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps at the start of World War II. Her assignments included caring for injured service members in her home state of Kentucky and in West Virginia. Soon to be 100 years old, Hunter says her military service as a nurse and caring for wounded service members was the “greatest privilege of my life.” Learn more about Christine’s story.
We honor their service.
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P O D C A S T S
 In episode 22 of PTSD Bytes, Dr. Pearl McGee-Vincent and Dr. Jessica Hamblen discuss AboutFace, a website where Veterans talk about their experiences with PTSD. AboutFace features over 1,000 videos of Veterans talking about their experiences with PTSD and treatment. The videos include family members talking about what it’s like to live with someone with PTSD and clinicians talking about what to expect in PTSD treatment.
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I N O T H E R N E W S
The PTSD Coach app is an option to help your Veteran patients who may be experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A Veteran does not have to be in treatment for PTSD to use the app, but it is not a replacement for therapy.
PTSD Coach is available in English and Spanish and was created by VA’s National Center for PTSD and the U.S. Department of Defense’s National Center for Telehealth & Technology. Read one Army Veteran’s story about using the PTSD Coach app.
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VHA recently announced it will cover Legembi, an experimental $26,500-per-year Alzheimer’s drug. Leqembi will be made available to Veterans living with early stages of Alzheimer’s disease who meet agency criteria as well as conditions on Leqembi’s label. Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration earlier this year, VHA is the first major insurer to agree to pay for the drug. |
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COMMUNITY PROVIDERS: Thank you for all you do to support our Veterans.
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