Navy Medicine and VA – Teaming Up

U.S. Navy Medicine and Veterans Affairs (VA) have had a long history of sharing services dating back to the attack on Pearl Harbor during WWII. Mass casualties resulting from the infamous December 7 bombing demanded that Navy medicine and the VA work together to produce the best outcome for wounded service members and their families.

Today the Navy is still sharing best practices and the use of staff and medical facilities to ensure the finest treatment for Navy and Marine Corps personnel involved in the Global War on terror (GWOT) through the Navy’s Safe Harbor Program.

Probably the most encouraging news is the establishment of a Navy to VA Seamless Transition Program to address the logistical and administrative barriers for service members transitioning from military to VA-centered care at Navy Military Treatment Facilities from coast to coast.

The best example is at Bethesda, Maryland, where a full-time VA Liaison Office is open for the sole purpose of coordinating follow-on care requirements and providing education on VA benefits to wounded warriors from all services treated at that facility. The objective is to place these VA offices in all of the major Navy treatment locations

Currently there are 10 Military Transition Facilities throughout the Military Health care system that are coordinating VA processing prior to discharge to eliminate gaps in services or benefits.

Additionally, Navy Medicine is working closely with the VA on Traumatic Brain Injury, which now appears to be the injury most associated with the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Navy and VA now have a unified shared strategy to conduct a more accurate and rapid diagnosis and are maintaining a continuity of care for those injured.

Full electronic transfer of the entire medical record and radiological images, as well as physician-to-physician hand-off, is a matter of day-to-day practice for the Navy and VA. Best of all, the program is ensuring that families are both informed and involved in the care of loved-ones

Navy Medicine is also exploring new relationships with the VA, such as at the Balboa Career Transition Center to help in employment for Navy and Marine Corps personnel as they are discharged into the VA system.

Navy medicine insists that every wounded Navy or Marine Corps service member is provided quality VA benefit information and claims intake assistance, vocational rehabilitative services, career guidance, and employment assistance.