Traditional and Whole Health and Patient-centered Care at the Veterans Health Administration

This chapter provides an overview of some of the Veterans Affairs (VA) projects currently underway that exemplifies the Whole Health approach, including resources available to non-VA clinicians and social workers and other behavioral health providers. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is one of the largest healthcare organizations in the US, with over 100 major hospitals, 800 community-based outpatient clinics, 300 Vet Centers, as well as a number of community living centers, to over 1,700 sites of care. The VHA employs "eligibility priority groups" to categorize Veterans for priority enrollment, as a response to limited yearly budgets. The Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACT) is the VHA's primary care service. Patient-centered care encompasses "providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values, and ensuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions". Patient activation has been shown to significantly correlate with health outcomes, hospital readmission rates, and overall cost of care.