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Preserving VA as an Integrated
Health Care System
National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Evaluation of
the Department of Veterans Affairs Mental Health Services.
Click the "Download PDF" button to obtain the report.
Russell
B. Lemle:
Choice Program Expansion Jeopardizes High-Quality VHA Mental
Health Services
AVAPL
and APA:
Top 10 Requirements for Coordinating VHA and Community Care
Multiple
Organization Analysis of Asset and Infrastructure Review Act of
2017
VA
Organizational Partnership Analysis:
Caring for our Veterans Act of 2017
Michael
Blecker:
With Obamacare Fight Lost, Conservatives Turn to Veterans' Care
Statement
for the Record Regarding Draft Legislation to Establish a
Permanent CHOICE Program
New
England Journal of Medicine:
The VA Is a Quality Leader, Contrary to Many People's
Assumptions
VoteVets,
in collaboration with the Bridge Project, has issued a report on
Concerned Veterans for America.
Suzanne
Gordon:
VHA Budget Cuts Threaten Veteran Safety
RAND:
Repealing or Replacing Affordable Care Act Would Result in
More Uninsured Veterans, Increase Stress on VA Health System
AVAPL
Partners with Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs, Fighting
for Veterans Healthcare, and Association of VA Social Workers:
Provisions That Should Be Included in Veterans Choice
Program Renewal Legislation.
Partnered
Evidence-based Policy Resource Center:
Cost, Quality, and Access of Fee-For-Service Purchased Care
vs. VHA Care for Veterans
Partnered
Evidence-based Policy Resource Center:
Cost, Quality, and Access under Risk-Based Contracting: The
Medicare Advantage Experience
The
American Legion:
Longman-Gordon Report - VA Healthcare: A System Worth Saving
Suzanne
Gordon in The Nation:
America’s Biggest Publicly Funded, Fully Integrated
Health-Care System Is Under Attack
Association
of VA Psychologist Leaders, Fighting for Veterans Healthcare,
Association of VA Social Workers, Nurses Organization of
Veterans Affairs, and The American Geriatrics Society:
Policy analysis on different proposals to redesign the Choice
program
Suzanne
Gordon in The Hill:
Yes, Trump is Privatizing the VA
The
Hill:
Congress must act to better the healthcare of America's veterans
American
Journal of Medicine article from Dr. Carolyn Clancy and Dr.
David Adkins:
Veterans’ Health Care: When Oversimplification Undermines Choice
Definitive
Healthcare:
VA Health Care Has Superior Quality
Fighting
for Veterans Healthcare speaks out on the dangers of outsourcing
VA services. Read the text
here, or visit their
website.
AVAPL
Issues White Paper:
The Threat to Veterans’ Mental Health Care of Renewing or
Expanding the Choice Program Without Supplemental Funding
Retired
Psychology Chief Edgardo Padin-Rivera advocates for VA care in
the
Washington Monthly.
From
DAV: "Setting
the Record Straight" and "Putting
Choice in Context" (YouTube video,
autoplays)
Phillip
Longman:
More Fake News About VA Hospitals
Bernie
Sanders' Statement on VA
Suzanne
Gordon:
Fact-Checking Fact-Checkers on Privatizing Vets'
Health Care
Secretary
McDonald Rebuts USA Today Article on VA Health Care
Alliance
for Health Reform briefing:
Health Care for Veterans: Where Things Stand & Next
Steps.
RAND
Corporation:
Comparing VA and Non-VA Quality of Care: A
Systematic Review and
slides from the Alliance for Health Reform briefing.
Boise
VAMC Psychiatrist describes the value of VA care:
Laboring in the Shadow of the Media: Care and
Perceptions of Care in the VA
President
Obama responds to the Commission on Care report, rejects
recommendation to change VA's governance structure.
Read the response here.
VA
Secretary McDonald responds to the Commission on Care report.
Read the response here.
VoteVets.Org
launches ad campaign against privatizing VA.
View their ad on YouTube.
The
American Prospect:
Studies Show Veterans Health Care Improving
VA
Press Release:
The Joint Commission Releases Results of VA Health Care
Surveys to VA
Policy
Brief re Commission on Care Final Report: Major Recommendation
Ignores Data, Risks Veterans’ Healthcare from the following organizations:
Association of VA Psychologist Leaders, Association of VA Social
Workers, Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs, Veterans
Affairs Physician Assistant Association, American Federation of
Government Employees, National Federation of Federal Employees,
National Nurses United, National Association of Government
Employees, American Psychological Association, National
Association of Social Workers.
AFGE
Calls the Commission on Care Report "Horrendous" and
"Anti-Veteran"
Commission
on Care Commissioner Michael Blecker's Dissent
Final
report from the Commission on Care
Forbes
article:
Proposed Board For A Privatized VA Would Push Vets Out In The
Cold
Senator
Rockefeller Advocates Against Privatizing VA
National
President of AFGE:
No, the VA is not broken.
VHA
Under Secretary for Health:
Why VA Care Is Different
Veterans
Service Organizations Express Their Views on Privatizing
Veterans' Health Care
Joint
VSO Letter Opposing Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers'
Legislation
Iraq
and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA):
IAVA Members Want a Better VA, Not a Privatized VA
Joint VSO Letter Regarding the Choice Program
Joint VSO Letter Opposing the Privatization of VA
American Legion:
Legion Fights Efforts to Privatize VA Care
Paralyzed
Veterans of America:
Why Privatizing VA Healthcare Would be a
Huge Mistake
DAV Addresses the Issue
of Downsizing VA:
View their video here on their Facebook page.
VA
Mental Health Care Better Than Private Sector
A recently published article in
Psychiatric Services reports that the medication treatment
received by veterans in VHA is better than that received by
patients in the private sector.
Read the article here.
Comparison
of VA and Non-VA Health Care Quality
AVAPL has reviewed the literature on the
quality of VA health care as compared to private and non-VA
public sector health care. In the majority of studies, VA health
care is as good as or better than health care from other
systems.
Read the review here.
VA
Medical Innovations and Discoveries:
Summary Fact Sheet compiled by the Association of VA
Psychologist Leaders
Custodians of Veteran Health Care
San Francisco-based not-for-profit
organization befitting veterans, Swords to Plowshares, has
distributed an article advocating against the privatizing of VA
health care services.
Read the article here. This article was
written by Michael Blecker, Executive Director of Swords to
Plowshares and a member of the Commission on Care, and he gave
permission to distribute the article.
Washington Monthly: The VA
Isn't Broken Yet
In this article, the Washington
Monthly documents the rise of the Commission on Care and
the push toward privatizing VA.
Read the article here.
AVAPL Presents to the
VA Commission on Care
Members of the AVAPL Exexcutive
Committee and the AVAPL Advisory Committee presented their views
on the advantages of VA-provided care for Veterans at a meeting
of the VA Commission on Care on January 21, 2016.
View the slides from their presentation here.
AVAPL, Association of
VA Social Workers, American Psychological Association, and
National Association of Social Workers Jointly Address Proposed
Efforts to Expand VA Choice Program
Many veterans wait unacceptably long
times for appointments in the Veterans Health Administration
(VHA). The Veterans Access, Choice, Accountability and
Transparency Act of 2014 Choice Card Program was enacted as a
three-year solution to address access problems for selected
veterans. One year into that pilot, there are concerted
Congressional efforts to expand the Choice Program, and make it
permanent. There are no additional appropriations in the Choice
Card Program expansion bills; funding for expanding the Choice
Card Program would come by siphoning allocations from VHA
Medical Centers & Community Based Outpatient Clinics --
downsizing the number of VHA providers and programs. The effect
over time would be to dismantle the VHA system and privatize
care for veterans. The proposed expansion of Choice is
predicated on popular myths, which are critiqued
here.
Poll Shows Veterans
Support VA Health Care, Oppose Privatization
A new poll commissioned by the Vet
Voice Foundation suggests that veterans oppose attempts to
privatize VA health care services. Read the report
here.
Commentary
on Proposed Legislation
Suzanne
Gordon: "Say
Never to the 'Never Again Act'"
"Never Again Act":
Click here to view the policy brief from
AVAPL and APA on the "Never Again Act."
Title 38 for Psychologists
Title 38 White Paper
Click here to view the Title 38
White Paper, developed by the AVAPL Executive Committee.
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