Washington, DC— A program created and pushed through Congress by U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) has come to fruition today at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as they announced they will provide $215 million in grant funding from Johnson’s Rural Health Outreach and Delivery Initiative.  The program provides competitive funding to improve services specifically designed for Veterans in rural and highly rural areas. 

As Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (VA), Johnson included the provision in last year’s spending bill to create a new program that would give the Secretary of the VA the latitude to address the unique needs of veterans in rural communities.

“Our veterans need to travel farther to reach the services they have been guaranteed and this program will make it easier for veterans and the VA to reach one another.  It allows the VA to collaborate with community partners, innovate with outpatient clinics, and focus on the latest technologies and telemedicine.  I want to thank Secretary Shinseki and the VA for their fast action on this and for keeping their promise to America’s veterans,” Johnson said.

“Expanding our capacity to serve Veterans within our rural communities is a top priority for VA,” Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki said. “I applaud Chairman Johnson’s efforts and leadership in helping improve access and quality of health care for our country’s Veterans.”

Johnson’s Rural Health Outreach and Delivery Initiative aimed to reduce the gap in care that often exists for veterans residing in rural areas.  The initiative explores new ways of serving this population with the ability to fund new programs based on the unique needs of rural veterans, and will include our veterans covered under the Indian Health Service. 

The VA’s Office of Rural Health has selected 74 programs, many of which were either national in scope or affected multiple states. 

NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS:

·         Johnson has stressed a need for the VA to collaborate with the Indian Health Service (IHS) to provide additional care to veterans in Indian Country.   As such, the National Office of Geriatrics and Extended Care will receive $6.4 million to implement the Home Based Primary Care program, which provides primary care delivered in the homes of veterans with complex chronic disease and disability (i.e. veterans for whom routine clinic-based care is no longer effective). The funding will support fourteen rural or highly rural Indian Health Service (IHS) or tribal clinics located in nine Veteran Integrated Service Networks (VISNs).

·         Further, Johnson’s initiative will fund $1.17 million to support implementation of VA Medical Foster Home (MFH) services based out of three rural VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) located in Black Hills, SD; Muskogee, OK; and White River Junction, VT.  MFH is a family home in which supportive care for compensation is provided in a home-like environment to Veterans who are frail or physically-disabled and unable to live independently.

SOUTH DAKOTA HIGHLIGHTS

·         Closer to home, this initiative will create an Office of Rural Co-Management at nine VA Medical Centers across VISN 23, which includes South Dakota, to serve as the primary communication and coordination center for the interface between the VA and the private sector.  The proposed locations are the Black Hills Health Care System and the VA Medical Centers located at Fargo, Iowa City, Omaha, Lincoln, Minneapolis, Sioux Falls, Grand Island, and St. Cloud.

·         Further, the Expansion of Care Coordination Home Telehealth project will support programs at the Sioux Falls and St. Cloud VA Medical Centers to enhance and expand the development of Care Coordination Home Telehealth (CCHT) pilot projects into rural and highly rural areas where access to general healthcare and mental healthcare is severely limited.

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For more information on Senator Tim Johnson visit his website at http://johnson.senate.gov.