Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs
Military & Veterans News
Benefits News: VA Releases Major Report on Progress of “MyVA” Transformation Process
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs released a major update on the MyVA transformation, Secretary McDonald’s effort to transform VA into the top customer service agency in the federal government. This third edition of the program’s semi-annual report shows progress serving veterans with more services, in better time.
Military & Veterans News
Benefits News: VA Chiropractic Residency Sites First in Nation to Receive Accreditation
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) chiropractic residency programs have reached a historic first by receiving accreditation from the Council of Chiropractic Education. These are the first residency programs in the nation ever to be awarded this distinction, a significant advancement in the evolution of chiropractic education.
Military & Veterans News
Benefits News: VA Streamlining Process for Medical/Surgical Purchases
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is taking a major step toward system improvement in the processes used to purchase medical and surgical supplies. VA is significantly enhancing the Medical/Surgical Prime Vendor (MSPV) program by replacing it with the Medical/Surgical Prime Vendor - Next Generation (MSPV-NG) program.
Military & Veterans News
Benefits News: October is National Audiology Awareness Month
WASHINGTON – Hearing loss, including tinnitus, which is a ringing, buzzing or other type of noise that originates in the head, is the most prevalent service-connected disability among Veterans, with many Veterans suffering from a form of it due to frequent exposure to loud noises from weaponry and aircraft. Because of the pervasiveness of hearing loss among Veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is recognizing October as Audiology Awareness Month by highlighting important VA research on the subject and advances made in treating Veterans with hearing loss.
Military & Veterans News
Benefits News: VA Announces $3.4 Million in Funding to Help the Homeless
WASHINGTON – Today, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert A. McDonald announced the award of $3.4 million in grant funding offered through the Grant and Per Diem (GPD) Program to 16 community agencies that provide enhanced services for homeless Veterans with special needs.
Military & Veterans News
Benefits News: VA Announces Several Caregiver Partnerships
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced several new and expanded partnerships to support the VA Caregiver Support Program. The VA Caregiver Support Program supports the-often unsung heroes of wounded or ill Veterans – the ones who take care of them. Announcement of the partnerships, made during a summit co-hosted by VA and the Elizabeth Dole Foundation. The daylong event, Empowering Hidden Heroes: Pathways to InnoVAtion, attracted 400 leaders from government, the non-profit sector, private industry, academic and stakeholders from the Veteran and caregiver community.
Military & Veterans News
Benefits News: Chrysler Liquidating Trust Commits $750,000 to Support Homeless Veterans
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is partnering with Chrysler Liquidating Trust to provide funds to support VA efforts to end Veteran homelessness. The partnership is part of the MyVA Strategic Partnership Initiative, which works with external organizations to improve the delivery and access of care for Veterans.
Military & Veterans News
Benefits News: Veterans Who Need Routine Audiology and Optometry Appointments Will Soon Be Able to Directly Schedule
WASHINGTON – Veterans receiving care at Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Medical Centers will now be able to schedule routine ear and eye appointments at local VA Audiology and Optometry clinics without a primary care referral – a move that eliminates multiple steps and gets Veterans into appointments quicker.Military & Veterans News
Vet News: VA Awards $300 Million More in Grants to Help End Veteran Homelessness
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today awarded approximately $300 million more in grants under the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program to help thousands of very low-income Veteran families around the nation who are permanently housed or transitioning to permanent housing. The SSVF grant program provides access to crucial services to prevent homelessness for Veterans and their families.
Military & Veterans News
Benefits News: VA Provides Service Dog Benefits to Veterans with Mental Health Disorders
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that it is piloting a protocol to implement veterinary health benefits for mobility service dogs approved for Veterans with a chronic impairment that substantially limits mobility associated with mental health disorders.
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Benefits News: The Joint Commission Releases Results of VA Health Care Surveys to VA
Note: This release was updated on August 5 and now contains a link to the report.Military & Veterans News
Vet News: VA Releases Report on Nation’s Largest Analysis of Veteran Suicide
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today released its findings from the nation’s most comprehensive analysis of Veteran suicide rates in the United States in which VA examined more than 55 million Veterans’ records from 1979 to 2014 from every state in the nation. The effort advances VA’s knowledge from the previous report in 2012, which was primarily limited to information on Veterans who used VHA health services or from mortality records obtained directly from 20 states and approximately 3 million records.. Compared to the data from the 2012 report, which estimated the number of Veteran deaths by suicide to be 22 per day, the current analysis indicates that in 2014, an average of 20 Veterans a day died from suicide.Military & Veterans News
Vet News: Obama Administration Announces Nearly 50-Percent Decline In Veteran Homelessness
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) today announced the number of veterans experiencing homelessness in the United States has been cut nearly in half since 2010. The data revealed a 17-percent decrease in veteran homelessness between January 2015 and January 2016—quadruple the previous year’s annual decline—and a 47-percent decrease since 2010.Military & Veterans News
Vet News: Million Veteran Program is Now Largest Genomic Database in the World
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs’ Million Veteran Program (MVP) has reached an important milestone when an Army Veteran from Montgomery, Alabama, became the 500,000th to voluntarily enroll in the research database program – making MVP the largest genomic database in the world.
Military & Veterans News
Benefits News: Secretary Takes Action to Ensure Project ARCH Veterans Continue to Receive Care Closer to Home
Augusta, Maine – As the Project ARCH pilot program comes to an end next month, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert A. McDonald today announced that Veterans enrolled in the program will be able to continue receiving care closer to home. Taking advantage of options available under the Veterans Choice Program, such as the “unusual or excessive burden provision” and Provider Agreements, Veterans receiving care under Project ARCH will continue care without interruption when the pilot program ends August 7.Military & Veterans News
Vet News: VA Selects New Director of the Center for Women Veterans
WASHINGTON - The Department of Veterans Affairs announced the appointment of a new director of the Center for Women Veterans.Military & Veterans News
Vet News: Hundreds of Injured Military Veterans From Around the Globe Come to Orlando to Compete in the 2016 Invictus Games
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is proud to support the over 500 ill and injured military Veterans from 15 Nations who have come to Orlando, Fla. to compete in the 2016 Invictus Games taking place May 8 – 12, 2016 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando.
Military & Veterans News
Benefits News: VA Convenes Leaders in Brain Health to Advance Solutions for mTBI and PTSD at Brain Trust Summit
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is leading a groundbreaking two-day event focused on brain health, Brain Trust: Pathways to InnoVAtion. The first annual public-private partnership event will take place April 20-21 at the National Press Club and the IBM Institute for Electronic Government in Washington, DC.Military & Veterans News
Vet News: VA to Hold 2015 Small Business Engagement in Pittsburgh
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in collaboration with other federal agencies and partners, will sponsor the 5th annual National Veterans Small Business Engagement (NVSBE), November 17–19, 2015, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA.Military & Veterans News
Vet News: VA Secretary to Announce VA-Bob Woodruff Foundation Partnership
WASHINGTON – Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Secretary Robert A. McDonald this evening will announce a partnership with the Bob Woodruff Foundation (BWF) to further advance VA’s outreach to Veterans through deeper and more innovative local and community partnerships. VA will capitalize on BWF’s strength and contacts to find unique ways to connect Veterans, transitioning Servicemembers and their families with resources right where they live. The partnership with BWF is one of many strategic alliances VA is forming and is an integral goal of the MyVA initiative, the largest reorganization in VA’s history which reorients VA around the needs of Veterans.Military & Veterans News
Vet News: VA and PenFed Foundation Work Together to Prevent Veteran Homelessness
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is teaming up with the Pentagon Federal Credit Union Foundation (PenFed Foundation) to strengthen efforts to prevent Veteran homelessness. This new partnership will expand the PenFed Foundation’s existing Military Heroes Fund Emergency Assistance Program to include all Veterans. Previously, the program was available only to Veterans of the Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF) conflicts.Military & Veterans News
Vet News: VA to Conduct Nationwide Series of Events to Celebrate Women Veterans
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will conduct a series of one-day events to raise awareness and celebrate the stories of women Veterans. The events, to be held in five locations across the country, will provide an overview of services and benefits available to women Veterans. Experts will be available to answer Veterans’ questions, and exhibitors will share information on their many resources.Military & Veterans News
Vet News: New Members Appointed to VA Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced the appointment of five new members to the Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans. The committee was chartered on November 2, 1994, and advises the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on the needs of the nation’s 4.7 million minority Veterans with respect to compensation, health care, rehabilitation, outreach and other benefits and programs administered by the VA. The Committee assesses the needs of Veterans who are minority group members and recommends program improvements designed to meet their needs. The committee members are appointed to two or three-year terms. Minority Veterans comprise nearly 21 percent of the total Veteran population in the United States and its territories.Military & Veterans News
Vet News: Two VA Scientists Honored with Awards for Groundbreaking Work on Spinal Cord Injuries
WASHINGTON – In the past, spinal cord injuries often meant a death sentence for patients – not because of the injury itself, but because of the complications caused as a result of the injury. But thanks to the work of two Veterans Affairs scientists and researchers at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), many paralyzed Veterans now have a reason for hope. And a way to live.