By Lynn Goya

Veterans are the most satisfied group of health care recipients in the United States, consistently outranking private health insurance patients on quality of care; timeliness of service; efficiency of equipment, supplies, ideas; effectiveness of treatments; safety of procedures and for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) concentration on patient-centered care that respects each patient’s needs, values, and preferences, even within clinical decisions that may have life-changing – or life and death — outcomes.

Not satisfied with being first, the VA continues to look for ways to improve service.  Recognizing that veterans have far-ranging needs and benefits based on their health, their history and their eligibility, the VA is in the process of piloting a program that offers veterans their own personalized Veterans Health Benefits Handbook.  These new handbooks tailor the content within to provide the most relevant benefit information to each enrolled veterans’ specific eligibility. Veteran’s healthcare is already the nation’s largest, most diverse and the most highly integrated health care system in the country.  Military veterans receive care from over 1,400 heath care sites, including community clinics, readjustment counseling centers, community living centers, domiciliary, hospitals, and a variety of other service providers.

The healthcare handbooks hope to simplify healthcare. ”These handbooks will give Veterans everything they need to know and leave out everything that doesn’t apply to them,” explains Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “Our Veterans will now have a comprehensive, easy to understand roadmap to the medical benefits they earned with their service.”

Veterans suffer from a variety of military-specific issues, as well as the whole range of healthcare issues that face the general population.  From post-traumatic stress, to dealing with the effects of Agent Orange, to how to treat diabetes, each customized handbook will highlight the recipient’s exact health benefits and provide other key information, all within a central source.  The handbooks will provide local contact information to the veteran’s preferred local facility, help them make and track their personal appointments, provide guidelines for communicating their treatment needs and explain to the veteran their own responsibilities including copayments, keeping appointments and following their medical prescriptions.

To access the handbook and VA healthcare, veterans must apply to enter the VA system.  First the veteran must fill out the VA Form 10-10EZ, Application for Health Benefits, that can be picked up at any VA health care facility, regional benefits office, filled out online at https://www.1010ez.med.va.gov/sec/vha/1010ez/ or by calling 1-877-222-VETS (8387).

Four categories of veterans are not required to enroll, but are encouraged to do so none-the-less so that they may be helped more expeditiously:  Veterans with a 50 percent or higher service-connected disability; veterans within 12 months of discharge who have a disability determined by the military to be incurred or aggravated in the line of duty that is not yet rated; those only seeking care for a service-connected disability; and veterans seeking registry examinations for Agent Orange, Ionizing Radiation, Gulf War/Operation Iraqi Freedom and Depleted Uranium.

The pilot program will initially roll out in Cleveland and Washington D.C. areas, before being available throughout the country.  If successful, the full program will be implemented during the fall of 2011, providing veterans across the country with personalized health benefit handbooks that should increase their ability to work with healthcare professionals to improve their own care. 

“Enhancing access isn’t just about expanding the kinds of services VA provides,” Shinseki says. “It also includes making sure we do everything we can to ensure Veterans have a clear understanding of the benefits available to them so they can make full use of the services they have earned.”

For additional information, go to www.va.gov/healtheligibility or call VA’s toll-free number at 1-877-222-VETS (8387).