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Posts Tagged ‘VA medical center’
Thursday, August 9th, 2012
While other medical centers run by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) struggle to upgrade and expand facilities, Las Vegas veterans will soon be able to access the latest in veterans’ health care at the new Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
The new $600 million facility is set to begin its phased opening this month with the goal of full operational status by December. The first unit to open will be the outpatient mental health clinic, which is completely dedicated to mental health care for disabling conditions such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Other enhanced services that will be opening throughout the year include a full dental clinic, a skilled nursing home care facility for up to 120 residents, an ambulatory care center, a Telehealth unit, and inpatient beds for up to 22 mental health patients, 48 medical/surgical beds, and 20 intensive care unit beds.
The center will boast some of the latest in technological advances for veterans’ health care. Transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy will be available for veterans suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury and other mental health conditions. Advanced “smart boards” will be in place in all areas of the VMAC and its outlying clinics to help improve employee education and patient interaction.
As enhanced health services come to new VA facilities there is hope that improvements can be made across the U.S. in existing and future VA hospitals and clinics. The best way for disabled veterans to keep up with the latest health care services available to them is to apply for veterans’ disability benefits.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veteran’s disability rights firm today – 1-888-234-5758.
Tags: VA medical center, veterans’ health care
Posted in Veterans' Benefits | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
Several medical facilities run by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have eateries known as Patriot Cafes to help serve the veterans and their families who frequent the centers. As with any hospital food service, kitchen waste is a common result, but the VA has put in place 2 new initiatives for reducing kitchen waste.
Currently, 9 VA hospitals located in West Palm Beach, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Temple, San Francisco, San Diego, and Palo Alto have started these initiatives. The pilot programs, if successful, could spread to as many as 170 facilities in less than 10 months.
The first pilot program is recycling cooking oil at the first 6 locations. Estimates show that the recycling could put over 580,000 pounds of used cooking oil to work in alternative uses, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020 and supporting the VA’s sustainability goal of having 50% waste diversion in the next 3 years.
The other pilot program was a composting experiment, conducted by the Veterans Canteen Service and the Martinsburg VA Medical Center’s Nutrition and Food Service Group, between December 19, 2011 and January 31, 2012. During the trial, the kitchen waste, from the Patriot Café in Martinsburg, was composted with an average of 30 pounds per week being turned into gardening materials. The program won several environmental awards and is planned to expand to West Palm Beach and the California VA locations.
Recycling initiatives such as this can help reduce costs and increase sustainability at VA hospitals around the country. These steps can help allow the VA to focus their funding on disabled veteran services and other important features of the VA health care system.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veteran’s disability rights firm today – 1-888-234-5758.
Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Patriot Cafes, VA medical center, Veterans' Benefits
Posted in General, VA News, Veterans' Benefits | No Comments »
Monday, January 9th, 2012
In their continuing efforts to increase communication with U.S. veterans and their families, The Department of Veterans Affairs has launched 152 new Facebook pages.
In December of 2011, a new Facebook page was established for every VA medical center. This initiative is designed to help give veterans a better way to communicate concerns and obtain information about the programs, services, and benefits available to them through the VA systems.
While individual medical questions are not allowed to be discussed via social media, the medical centers can monitor feedback from the Facebook pages and connect interested veterans to their center’s services and medical care. The VA also plans on expanding these offerings to Twitter for all centers.
The move to social media began in 2008 with the first Facebook page for the Veterans Health Administration. Their social media campaign has expanded to Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and the Vantage Point blog. The VA hopes to follow in the same path for each VA medical center.
Currently, the VA’s combined Facebook pages have a total of over 345,000 subscribers and the medical centers are already making up nearly 20% of that total.
These new pages may be sources of great information to disabled veterans looking for treatment or help with obtaining a disability rating for benefits.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan & Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veteran’s disability rights firm today – 1-888-234-5758.
Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), VA medical center, Veterans Disability Benefits, veterans services, Veterans' Resources
Posted in VA News, Veterans' Benefits, Veterans' Resources | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
The John Cochran St. Louis Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center re-opened its doors again following a contamination scare. The center originally shut down on February 2, 2011 after an employee noticed surgical trays were littered with metallic corrosion after coming out of their wash cycles. The center was immediately closed to ensure no harm came to any patients as the source of the spots remained a mystery.
The medical center’s staff would not be re-opening their doors if they did not believe they could provide the best and safest environment in which to perform surgeries and other medical procedures. The VA used a number of procedures and inspections to ensure veterans’ safety. Of course the VA ran their own experts through the facility. Beyond that however, they also used private and independent contractors.
The VA examined every square inch of the St. Louis VA’s Sterile Processing Department (SPD). None of their efforts, however, produced any source of contamination. Not a stone was left unturned during the investigation; multiple test cycles were performed and thousands of instruments were replaced. Independent consultants confirmed the facility’s safety.
The VA signed a $6.8 million contract to expand and modernize the John Cochran VA’s SPD. The project will include the installation of high-tech sterilizers and washers along with a surgical tool tracking system. The entire renovation will be completed in July, 2012.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
Tags: facility sterilization, surgical procedures, VA center re-opening, VA contamination scare, VA medical center
Posted in General | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
Veterans and others will soon discover what $87 million buys these days in the way of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospitals. Doors are expected to open on the new 5-story, 245,000 square foot, state-of-the-art tower currently being constructed at the Malcolm Randall VA Medical Center in May 2011. The new tower will completely modernize and revolutionize inpatient health care for the over 13,000 patients treated there every year.
The new tower will boast 226 beds, and will be the only VA medical center across the nation offering fully private rooms for all inpatient hospital stays. It will also offer a new, and much needed women’s clinic for the increasing number of female veterans needing health care. Additionally, the ground floor will provide focused medical services to include not only an expanded emergency room, but clinics specializing in:
- Ophthalmology;
- Urology; and
- Ear-Nose-And-Throat.
The location of the clinic is very fitting as the area encompassing North Florida and South Georgia constitutes the largest VA health care system in the United States. The strain put on the current facilities demanded upgrades. As of 2009, the Gainesville VA discharged 53% more patients than in 1999. In the same 10 years, outpatient visits to the clinic rose by 134%.
The new tower will provide rooms with private bathrooms, and a pullout couch for visiting family members. There will also be 5 rooms dedicated to treating spinal cord injuries as these are becoming much more common among veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Not only will the new facility allow the VA to treat more patients, it will create approximately 300 new jobs.
This clinic is necessary to fully support and treat the growing number of veterans in the area. Because of this clinic, more veterans will be given more state-of-the-art treatment, and many will have to travel much less distance to get it.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
Tags: Disabled Veterans, Gainesville VA Medical Center, VA Health Care System, VA medical center
Posted in Disabled Veterans, VA News, Veterans' Resources | No Comments »
Monday, June 7th, 2010
Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) have quickly become the signature injury of the two current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Very little is known about how TBIs affect their victims so the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is funding research specifically focused on TBIs. Specifically, researchers are looking at how TBIs:
- Look and act in the brain;
- How they affect returning troops’ ability to control behavior; and
- Can be isolated and separated from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which usually accompanies TBI.
The Martinez VA medical center in California houses 34 researchers and scientists and has received $2.6 million in subsidies from the VA. This medical center has become one of the main facilities in the VA’s network focusing on this type of research. Many of the symptoms of TBI and PTSD overlap and have common characteristics, making specific diagnoses very difficult.
Without a solid diagnosis, rehabilitation becomes very difficult. On the outside, many TBI patients do not appear to be afflicted in any way. Internally, they may have problems performing simple tasks, or may suffer from hearing problems. If doctors cannot determine why you are acting how you are acting, the source of the issue cannot be treated.
Soldiers’ brains are being affected by IEDs in ways we have not encountered before. Instead of just the initial, straight-on, concussive shockwave, the soldiers’ bodies may be moving in different directions than their brain so that the brain is being hit with the initial wave as well as aftershocks. The ffects are not immediately apparent, and it is possible to damage the brain and not the skull.
This research is vital and if it is possible to separate TBI symptoms from PTSD, successful treatment becomes a real possibility. Given the sacrifices soldiers are making on our behalf, successful health care and treatment is the least we can do for them.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
Tags: PTSD, TBI, VA health care, VA medical center, VA Research
Posted in General | No Comments »
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
The Fayetteville, North Carolina VA (FVA) Clinic was in need of new direction; the old way of doing things was way out of line. More than 100,000 veterans depend on the Fayetteville VA Medical Clinic so when the Interim Director (ID) took his office it was his top priority to bring the clinic up to standards. The ID made his plan to save the clinic very clear:
- Patients first;
- Identify problems;
- Set priorities; and
- Solve problems.
Before taking his position, the Fayetteville VA received complaints from veterans ranging from rude staffers to terrible patient response time to faulty phone systems to poor parking. Since the ID has taken the helm, only good things have happened to the VA medical center. Complaints have stopped rolling in about the staff and treatment satisfaction rose to 62% in November and December. This is up from a 45% satisfaction rating in the middle of 2008 to last winter.
Now that the staff is coming around, the outpatient check-in area and the emergency department will be renovated. The renovations will take approximately 18 months and while this is happening, the 2 primary care clinics the FVA houses will be moved into provisional housing.
The temporary location will, at the very least, provide ample parking for the veterans. To solve the parking problem at the main clinic, staffers have been parking away from the clinic. Like the parking issue, the phone system will not be fixed on the ID’s watch. Of the 150 new staffers being hired, approximately 100 will be responsible for answering phones and making appointments.
Miserable may have been the way the FVA used to be described by the veteran-patients. The Interim Director has made broad steps in correcting the errors he could while in office. Once a permanent director is hired, and the renovations are complete, the FVA will be back up to standards and hopefully the veterans will be satisfied with the result.
Tags: Fayetteville VA, VA medical center, Veterans Health Care, Veterans' Resources
Posted in General, VA News | No Comments »
Friday, March 12th, 2010
Two sets of patient data were downloaded and recorded onto a personal laptop by a physician’s assistant in the Atlanta VA Medical Center. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Inspector General initiated a criminal investigation into the downloading. One of the sets of information contained 3 years of patient data. The other contained medical information going back 18 years.
It is possible that while the physician’s assistant’s laptop was never directly connected to the VA’s network, the information could still have been removed from the network. To date, the VA has not released information as to how many veteran-patients may be affected or involved or if they are even planning on notifying those veterans.
The VA’s Office of Information and Technology is currently working to determine the specific details of the information removed from the VA network. The results of their findings will allow the VA to determine how to proceed. What is known so far is that some of the information came from an unapproved research project.
The VA has a standing rule against connecting personal computers to the VA network. They also encrypt all the data stored on the VA network. It is unclear however, what effect this safeguards had on the downloaded information.
The burden is on the medical center to retain and control their records, not the patient. While the investigation is still ongoing, hopefully there will be no damage done to the veteran-patients.
Tags: Atlanta VA Medical Center, Medical records stolen, VA medical center
Posted in VA News | No Comments »
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric Shinseki sponsored a nationwide contest for VA employees and veterans services organizations to help improve the VA claim process. There were 10 winners in the contest, and one Pittsburgh man received special recognition for his idea on how to homogenize the questionnaires private physicians use when examining veterans.
In order to be awarded disability benefits, veterans must undergo a private exam as well as an exam at a VA medical facility in order to have their condition and degree of disability properly diagnosed. The award winning idea of using standardized forms would speed up the veteran’s assessment.
The benefits veterans would take from a streamlined process would be noteworthy. Reforming this part of the claim(s) processing could end up saving veterans a month of waiting for their claim(s) making them a month closer to receiving benefits. Not only does it cut down on the time veterans spend waiting, it cuts down on paperwork.
Using standardized forms will help both the veterans and the private physicians:
- Veterans will be much more aware of the necessary required information;
- The new process will most likely lower the amount of examinations required, which will benefit those veterans finding it hard to travel; and
- The physicians will be more familiar with the veteran’s medical history.
Due to the new laws surrounding presumptive disabilities related to Agent Orange, the VA expects to see approximately 200,000 veterans becoming eligible for disability benefits. When this happens all at once, the backlog in claim(s) processing is going to be considerable. Once this happens, any part of the claim(s) processing that can be sped up will be much appreciated.
Constructing the raw templates for these forms and putting this plan into action will take a couple of months and the templates will need to comply with federal regulations. Once everything is given the green light, it is expected that this idea will have a remarkable national impact.
Learn more about speeding up veteran disability claims.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
Tags: speeding up disability claims, VA claims process, VA medical center, veterans disability claims
Posted in Veterans' Disability | No Comments »
Monday, March 1st, 2010
In keeping with VA Secretary Eric Shinseki’s new overall vision for the VA, veterans have earned the absolute best treatment and health care the U.S. can possibly provide. One way Mr. Shinseki plans on fulfilling this vision is by providing veterans with the best possible access to that health care.
To make this happen, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is both building new and improving existing facilities. Recently, the VA awarded $41.5 million in contracts to be used:
- To create a state of the art “polytrauma center” focusing on treating and caring for veterans considered to be the most severely injured; and
- To improve existing facilities at the Audie L. Murphy VA Medical Center in San Antonio.
“Polytrauma” is the type of health care used for veterans suffering from more than one critical and life-threatening condition. The majority of “polytrauama” patients are veterans of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that were injured by explosives and roadside bombs.
The first of the two contracts, valued at $37.2 million, went to a Birmingham, Alabama construction company to construct a three story, 84,000 square foot “polytrauma” center in San Antonio to include:
- Physical medicine;
- Rehabilitation services; and
- Prosthetic service and research.
A San Antonio construction firm received a contract directing them to improve the current facilities at the Audie L. Murphy VA Medical Center. The contract details out the plans made to update and improve ward 4-A to include:
- Electrical Work;
- Utilities;
- Fire alarm and protection systems;
- Telephone and data systems; and
- Asbestos abatement.
The veteran population in Texas numbers approximately 1.7 million. There are 11 VA medical centers, 40+ outpatient clinics, 14 veteran centers and six national cemeteries spread across the state. Last year, the VA spent more than $7.8 billion on the state’s veterans.
Learn more about the VA’s contracts to improve health care.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
Tags: Eric Shinseki, Texas VA hospitals, VA health care, VA medical center
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
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