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equal opportunity employment journal
September 2020
Connected Care a Boon for Veterans During the Pandemic T
Telehealth video visits by Veterans have increased by 1,132 — All care can start with a virtual discussion.
he COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the daily lives of Veterans across the country. This includes how they are connecting with their VA health care teams. They are increasingly using VA technologies such as My HealtheVet, VA’s online health portal, and VA Video Connect, VA’s secure video visit application. VA has been a leader in using technology to connect with Veterans for well over a decade. And the use of VA’s digital health has been consistently increasing year over year. The COVID19 pandemic has made those services essential. Many Veterans have been staying at home, taking precautions against the coronavirus. “VA’s connected technologies allow us deliver care to Veterans in a way that is convenient and fits into their daily lives,” said Dr. Neil Evans. Evans is VA’s chief officer for the Office of Connected Care. “VA has been a national leader in telehealth for more than a decade. It delivers care to Veterans in more than 50 clinical specialties across a variety of applications and platforms.”
Three of the most popular tools
One of the most popular tools Veterans are
The goal of these services is to make VA the health care the system of choice for Veterans and provide services that make access to care more convenient. VA has been pioneering telehealth solutions and increasing adoption among Veterans and providers. Now with COVID19 necessitating increased precautions for inperson interaction, the services provided by Connected Care are more popular than ever.
More Veterans are adopting VA’s digital health technology options
using to connect with their VA health care teams is VA Video Connect. That program lets Veterans connect by video with their VA care teams while staying home. Even more highly utilized is My HealtheVet. VA’s online patient portal lets Veterans request VA prescription refills, review their medical records and connect directly with their health care providers through secure online messages. Veterans are also increasingly using VA’s Mobile App Store. There, they can download apps that offer assistance with pain management, self-care reminders and more.
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2013
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On March 1, 2020, 9% of Veterans enrolled in VA health care used telehealth for part of their care. Over the next three months, that percentage more than doubled. By the end of June, 18% of Veterans were using telehealth. More than 1.1 million Veterans used digital health options in fiscal year 2020, through the end of June. Those options include synchronous, asynchronous or remote patient monitoring. Telehealth video visits to the Veteran’s home or other non-VA place of choice have increased by 1,132% since February. VA providers conducted approximately 11,000 visits a week during the last week in February. That number has risen more than 12-fold, exceeding 138,700
