{"id":8174,"date":"2024-07-18T13:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=8174"},"modified":"2024-07-18T13:30:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T13:30:00","slug":"advancing-cancer-treatment-access-with-22-new-close-to-me-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=8174","title":{"rendered":"Advancing cancer treatment access with 22 new \u2018Close to Me\u2019 sites"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"tni-source-date\"><strong>Originally published:<\/strong> 2024-07-18T13:30:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.va.gov\/oncology-services-and-tools.html#:~:text=Close%20to%20Me%20Cancer%20Care&amp;text=Under%20this%20program%2C%20VA%20care,facilities%2C%20often%20in%20rural%20locations.\" rel=\"noopener\">Close to Me<\/a> cancer care service brings cancer providers and treatment closer to Veterans\u2019 homes, ensuring the Veteran experience is the driving force behind increasing access to care across VA. The service reduces the burden of lengthy travel for Veterans and their caregivers, improving access to care and affording Veterans more time to focus on healing. <\/p>\n<p>Building on the momentum of <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-expands-close-to-me-cancer-program\/\">VA Secretary Denis McDonough\u2019s announcement<\/a> in April to bring cancer diagnosis and treatment closer to Veterans, Close to Me has already expanded to 22 new sites for Veterans to receive VA\u2019s best-in-class care.<\/p>\n<p>Under this program, VA care teams travel to provide Veterans with the full continuum of cancer care at local outpatient clinics, like community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) or other VA facilities, often in rural locations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The formation of Close to Me began in 2021 at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System with the creation of its innovative \u201cRoving RN\u201d program. Working with <a href=\"http:\/\/cancer.va.gov\/\" rel=\"noopener\">VA\u2019s National Oncology Program (NOP)<\/a>, the Minneapolis team shared critical insights from that program that helped shape the implementation of the Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC)-based infusion service at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System (VAPHS) in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>VAPHS formalized the service, and Close to Me is now replicating at 33 VA Healthcare Systems across the nation.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Close to Me providing a VA option throughout a Veteran\u2019s cancer journey<\/h2>\n<p>Close to Me increases access to the full continuum of VA cancer care, which has been <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-enrolled-401006-veterans-healthcare-365\/\">proven to be the best care in America<\/a>\u00a0for Veterans. Since its inception, Close to Me has recorded zero medical emergencies, a 99% treatment adherence rate and high rates of patient satisfaction. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fulfilling VA\u2019s commitment: Expanding access to cancer care through Close to Me<\/h2>\n<p>Close to Me\u2019s mission aligns with VA\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/cancermoonshot\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Cancer Moonshot<\/a> goal to provide world-class care for over one million Veterans on the cancer care continuum, from screening to survivorship.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Since the inception of the program in late 2021, nearly 500 Veterans have received cancer treatments at CBOCs around the country. VA is committed to reaching more Veterans through Close to Me, evidenced by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/northeast-ohio-health-care\/news-releases\/akron-va-clinic-opens-new-infusion-center\/#:~:text=The%20VA&apos;s%20Close%20to%20Me,and%20their%20caregivers%20more%20time\" rel=\"noopener\">newly planned CBOC<\/a> expansion across the country that is bringing new cancer diagnosis, treatment and surveillance services <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/press-room\/va-expands-close-to-me-cancer-program\/\">to an additional 9,000 Veterans across 30 locations<\/a> by the end of October 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Learn more about VA Cancer Care \u00a0<\/h2>\n<p>VA encourages Veterans to reach out to their VA provider for support wherever they may be in their cancer care journey. Learn more about VA cancer care by visiting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.va.gov\/oncology-services-and-tools.html\" rel=\"noopener\">the VA cancer webpage<\/a> and the available resources for whole health <a href=\"https:\/\/www.va.gov\/WHOLEHEALTHLIBRARY\/self-care\/index.asp\" rel=\"noopener\">by visiting the Whole Health Library. \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"tni-attribution\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.va.gov\/133015\/cancer-treatment-access-22-close-to-me-sites\/\" 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>The service reduces the burden of lengthy travel for Veterans and their caregivers, improving access to care and affording Veterans more time to focus on healing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8174","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>Advancing cancer treatment access with 22 new \u2018Close to Me\u2019 sites - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The service reduces the burden of lengthy travel for Veterans and their caregivers, improving access to care and affording Veterans more time to focus on healing.\" \/>\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=8174\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advancing cancer treatment access with 22 new \u2018Close to Me\u2019 sites - 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