Director's Vision

Dear Veterans, fellow employees, volunteers and friends of VISN 4:

In order to consistently provide the best – and most timely – care and services, the Veterans Health Administration has identified five critical priorities. These priorities will support the transformation of VA health care, and will have far-reaching impact throughout our system.

The first and most urgent priority is improving access. We are determined to provide timely access to Veterans as determined by their clinical needs. Here in VISN 4, we've significantly expanded the care provided at our network of outpatient clinics, increased Telehealth usage, added services and staff, and extended our hours in order to improve access to VA care. We have also increased utilization of the Choice program when necessary.

VISN 4 will continue to identify what is working and what is not to ensure that Veterans are getting the care when and where they need and want.

The second priority is employee engagement. VA is seeking a work environment where employees are valued, supported, and encouraged to do their best for Veterans.

VISN 4 employs more than 14,000 people. More than 4,000 of those are Veterans. We have nearly 3,000 nurses and more than 1,000 physicians.

We are working to give staff greater input into their work environment. We know that empowerment is a powerful thing. And empowered employees aren't afraid to think 'out-of-the-box' when it comes to tackling significant challenges.

VHA priority number 3 is ensuring that Veterans receive the highest level of coordinated care within VA or from participating providers.

The Veterans Health Administration is the largest integrated health care system in the United States, providing care at 1,233 health care facilities. VISN 4 currently encompasses 9 medical centers, 44 outpatient clinics, and 1 mobile clinic while working closely with 17 Vet Centers.

Since April 25, we have established hundreds of provider agreements in VISN 4 (including with UPMC, the Geisinger Health System, and The University of Pennsylvania) and authorized their use for thousands of episodes of care.

Additionally, four VISN 4 facilities conduct research to advance the health care field. Last fiscal year, 260 investigators utilized more than $45 million to work on 513 projects.

Our fourth priority is seeking to identify and disseminate best practices throughout VA. Here are a few examples of that:

In fiscal year 2015, nearly 40,000 VISN 4 Veterans utilized virtual care. Each day last year, more than 1,900 Veterans who live in rural areas used either a telehealth service or secure messaging to receive VA care. This issue of Vision for Excellence highlights just a few of VISN 4's recent Telehealth achievements.

In May, VA announced that one of four new Mental Health Telemedicine Clinical Resource Centers will be established in Pittsburgh. These Centers will provide Veterans, particularly those living in rural areas, with rapid access to mental health services where local barriers exist. This expanded effort will help close the gap in access to mental health care, in particular, in those traditionally underserved communities.

VISN 4 is a part of the "Integrated Reach Database System/Perceptive Reach" pilot; this work will test a software application package that leverages VHA clinical data to identify individuals who may be at elevated risk for adverse events.

These are just a few examples of the many ways that we are sharing best practices within VISN 4 and all of VHA. And we are continuously looking for more opportunities like these.

The final VHA priority is putting Veterans First and giving them the confidence to Trust in VA Care. We will be there for our Veterans when they need us.

The very first objective of VA Secretary Bob McDonald's MyVA transformation is to improve the Veteran Experience. VA's North Atlantic District, of which VISN 4 is a part, was the first district to launch a Veterans Experience office. It became fully operational in May, and is the subject of this e-zine's lead story. We have embedded staff from this new program into our Wilmington and Philadelphia VA medical centers as well as the VISN office.

The ultimate goal of the Office of Veterans Experience is to increase the percentage of Veterans who trust VA from the current measure of 47 percent to 90 percent. To build trust, we need to achieve a high level of performance and consistently earn the confidence of our Veterans.

By working closely with the Office of Veterans Experience, we hope to improve Veterans' trust in VISN 4 care and also engage and empower our employees. It is only through our employees that we can offer great service to our Veterans.

Today, VA faces unprecedented scrutiny of its programs and performance. We have much work to do, and we have already accomplished a lot.

Thank you for your support of VISN 4, and thank you for reading this e-zine.

Sincerely,

Michael D. Adelman, M.D.
Network Director

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