{"id":7518,"date":"2024-09-26T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7518"},"modified":"2024-09-26T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T15:00:00","slug":"va-makes-tele-emergency-care-available-nationwide-offering-veterans-more-virtual-care-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7518","title":{"rendered":"VA makes tele-emergency care available nationwide, offering Veterans more virtual care options"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"tni-source-date\"><strong>Originally published:<\/strong> 2024-09-26T15:00:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WASHINGTON <\/strong>\u2014 Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced that tele-emergency care (tele-EC) is now available nationwide, a step that increases timely access to virtual emergency care options for Veterans enrolled in VA health care. This expansion of care \u2014 piloted in recent months \u2014 has already shown promise for Veterans, helping more than 61,182 callers with a 59.4% case resolution rate (meaning Veterans\u2019 needs were resolved without having to travel from their homes to urgent care or an emergency department).<\/p>\n<p>Tele-emergency care is a part of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.va.gov\/healthconnect\/\" rel=\"noopener\">VA Health Connect<\/a>, a phone service that Veterans can call nationwide. Veterans who contact VA Health Connect will speak to a clinical triage nurse, who will connect them to tele-emergency care when clinically appropriate. Tele-EC providers will then evaluate the Veteran over the phone or on video and recommend treatment or follow-up, including if in-person care is needed. In life-threatening emergencies, the clinical triage nurse will call 911 and stay on the line until help arrives. It is important to note Veterans experiencing a life-threatening emergency should immediately contact 911, versus seeking support via tele-EC.<\/p>\n<p>This expansion is a part of VA and the Biden-Harris Administration\u2019s efforts to expand access to timely, world-class care for Veterans. Veterans enrolled in VA health care can now access tele-EC nationwide by calling <a href=\"http:\/\/www.va.gov\/healthconnect\/\" rel=\"noopener\">VA Health Connect<\/a>, and through the <a href=\"https:\/\/mobile.va.gov\/app\/va-health-chat\" rel=\"noopener\">VA Health Chat<\/a> app. Veterans can find their local VA Health Connect number by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/find-locations\/?page=1&amp;address=02482&amp;facilityType=health&amp;serviceType&amp;latitude=42.296622&amp;longitude=-71.292875&amp;radius=10&amp;bounds%5B%5D=-72.042875&amp;bounds%5B%5D=41.546622&amp;bounds%5B%5D=-70.542875&amp;bounds%5B%5D=43.046622&amp;context=Wellesley%2C%20Massachusetts%2002482%2C%20United%20States\" rel=\"noopener\">searching for their facility<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVeterans can now be evaluated for possible emergencies from the comfort of their home,\u201d said<strong> VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal, M.D.<\/strong> \u201cSometimes, you\u2019re not sure whether what you\u2019re experiencing is a minor emergency or not \u2014 and tele-emergency care can help you resolve those questions. Veterans can get immediate, virtual triage with a VA medical provider who has direct access to their medical records. This avoids having to potentially drive to the nearest emergency department and wait to be evaluated, if appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Through VA\u2019s tele-emergency care, Veterans now have increased and quicker access to timely emergency care from VA clinicians, helping them get the right care, at the right time, from the right place. While tele-EC does not replace the need for in-person emergency evaluation, for Veterans in rural areas or those with mobility and transportation challenges, in-person immediate care can be difficult to access. VA\u2019s tele-EC helps bridge this gap through quick, virtual triage assessments.<\/p>\n<p>VA continues to increase Veterans\u2019 access to VA health care through initiatives like tele-EC, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/veterans-health-care-va-access-sprint\/\">access sprints<\/a>, and by designing and implementing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/HEALTH\/connect-to-va-care\/index.asp\" rel=\"noopener\">more virtual care options<\/a>. Since President Biden signed the PACT Act into law, VA is delivering more care to more Veterans than ever before. Nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/in-two-years-of-the-pact-act-va-has-delivered-benefits-and-health-care-to-millions-of-toxic-exposed-veterans-and-their-survivor\/\">740,000 Veterans have enrolled in VA health care<\/a> in the past two years.<\/p>\n<p>Veterans\u2019 trust in VA is at an all-time high, with outpatient health care trust scores reaching 91.8% in the latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/initiatives\/veteran-trust-in-va\/\" rel=\"noopener\">VA Trust Report<\/a>. For the second consecutive year, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-health-care-outperforms-non-va-care-in-two-independent-nationwide-quality-and-patient-satisfaction-reviews\/\">VA outperformed non-VA hospitals<\/a> in a major independent, nationwide review of care quality, with the majority of VA facilities receiving 4- and 5-star ratings. At the same time, 79% of VA facilities received 4- or 5-star ratings for patient satisfaction \u2014 the ninth consecutive quarter in which VA facilities have outperformed non-VA counterparts in this independent review.<\/p>\n<p>For more information about VA care, visit\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/health-care\/eligibility\/\" rel=\"noopener\">VA\u2019s health care website<\/a>. For more information about Veteran trust in VA, visit the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/initiatives\/veteran-trust-in-va\/\" rel=\"noopener\">VA trust website<\/a>. To enroll in VA care, visit\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/health-care\/how-to-apply\/\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.va.gov\/health-care\/how-to-apply\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"tni-attribution\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-makes-tele-emergency-care-available-nationwide-offering-veterans-more-virtual-care-options\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tele-emergency care is now available nationwide, a step that increases timely access to virtual emergency care options for Veterans enrolled in VA health care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-veterans-health-care"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>VA makes tele-emergency care available nationwide, offering Veterans more virtual care options - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tele-emergency care is now available nationwide, a step that increases timely access to virtual emergency care options for Veterans enrolled in VA health care.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7518\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VA makes tele-emergency care available nationwide, offering Veterans more virtual care options - 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