The Department of Veteran Affairs and the Defense Department have launched an interagency effort that seeks to assist the transition of service members and veterans who need complex care management as they transfer within or between the DoD and VA healthcare systems.
VA said Thursday the initiative will designate a lead coordinator for each service member’s care management team to provide guidance and assistance to the service members and their families on the benefits and services available to them.
Lead coordinators will guide service members through more than 50 DoD and VA programs under the Interagency Care Coordination Committee Community of Practice that deliver specialty care, VA said.
The department further said it expects around 1,500 DoD staff and 1,200 VA staff to be trained as lead coordinators.
“More than a decade of combat has placed enormous demands on a generation of service members and veterans – particularly those who have suffered wounds, injuries or illnesses which require a complex plan of care,” said Karen Guice, IC3 co-chair and principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for health affairs.
“These individuals require the complex coordination of medical and rehabilitative care, benefits and other services to successfully transition from active duty to veteran status, and to optimally recover from their illnesses or injuries.”
The interagency initiative was enacted as policy in 2015 as a result of the efforts of the DoD-VA IC3 established in 2012.
