The Veteran Community Care Collaborative project ECHO

The Veteran Community Care Collaborative project ECHO The Veteran Community Care Collaborative ECHO Program The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system in the U.S., serving approximately nine million Veterans each year. In response to concerns about timely access to care for Veterans, Congress passed the VA MISSION Act of 2018. This legislation streamlined the Veterans Community Care Program to give Veterans greater access to non-VHA providers in the community. With an increasing number of community providers joining this program, especially in rural areas, new efforts seek to educate providers on military culture and the unique considerations of providing medical and mental health care for the Veteran population. The military community has a distinct culture and providing a baseline level of training for current and future health care professionals is vital to the development of the patient-provider relationship and quality of care provided to the Veteran. Veterans, current service members, and their families face unique challenges including: re-transitioning to civilian life, finding post-military employment, securing housing, re-adjusting to the isolation from the military unit and the independence associated with civilian life, challenges in joining supportive communities, and restoration or renewal of prior relationships and the establishment of new ones. Additionally, Veterans are at increased risk for experiencing a potential host of physical and mental health-related issues specific to their service, making access to appropriate and coordinated care even more vital. However, these unique and complex care needs are often not adequately addressed by providers outside of the official VA network and thus, community care providers are experiencing many challenges effectively identifying and meeting the needs of their Veteran patients. For example, community providers may not even know to ask new patients if they, or a family member, have ever served potentially missing the opportunity to collect a fuller patient history or connect patients to resources targeting Veterans and their families. To address these gaps in cultural and clinical competencies, Arizona State University (ASU) in partnership with the Phoenix VA Health Care System, has adopted innovative education solutions, specifically Project ECHO, to create a virtual learning network of community providers to build their capacity in treating mental health and medical issues associated with military service.