A Veteran and VA social worker’s case for VA Health Chat

How one VA social worker introduces Veterans to digital healthcare

For nearly 18 years, VA clinical social worker Erin Lovinus has helped Veterans navigate their healthcare. As an Army Veteran with 11 years of service, she understands healthcare experiences from the Veterans’ side as well.

VA Health Chat allows Veterans to send secure, text-based messages to VA staff in real time for appointment scheduling, prescription management and medical advice for non-life-threatening health concerns. When Lovinus recommends VA telehealth and digital health tools like VA Health Chat, she isn’t simply sharing resources, she’s recommending tools she uses herself.

“It’s a good experience when I can help Veterans and know exactly what they’re going to be looking for on the back end,” Lovinus said. “And then if I have tips and tricks, I can share those with them too.”

Connecting to care more easily through VA Health Chat

As a frequent user of VA Health Chat, Lovinus has firsthand experience with how the app can simplify her VA healthcare. She uses it to quickly address administrative needs, such as correcting contact information, as well as to manage prescriptions and message clinical staff. The app enables her to take care of these tasks without spending time on the phone.

Long hold times, disconnected calls and difficulty reaching care teams can make managing health care feel complicated and time-consuming for Veterans. Lovinus believes that digital health tools such as VA Health Chat help reduce those barriers by giving Veterans more ways to connect with care.

“Offering digital alternatives is a commonsense approach to this problem,” she said.

Providing human connection in a digital space

One concern Lovinus hears often is that digital health tools replace human interaction. She assures Veterans that VA virtual care tools still connect them with real people, not chatbots.

When Veterans use VA Health Chat, they communicate directly with nurses, pharmacists, schedulers or other VA staff members who understand the VA healthcare system and can help guide them to care or even directly provide care themselves.

Another common hesitation comes from older Veterans who assume digital health tools may be too complicated for them. However, Lovinus finds that most older Veterans already use smartphones and are fully capable of navigating VA digital health tools if they receive a little guidance.

She often walks Veterans through the set-up process step by step, explaining that once Veterans have Login.gov or ID.me account credentials, they can easily reach VA staff from a computer, smartphone or tablet and receive a response within minutes.

Lovinus believes that making tools like VA Health Chat more widely understood and used is key. She said, “The more Veterans that know about it and use it, the better.”

To learn more about VA Health Chat and to start using the app, visit the VA Mobile website. To learn more about telehealth at VA, visit the VA Telehealth Services website.