Department of Veteran Affairs

Connecting Veterans and providers with VA specialists with Provider Connect When a health issue arises, a Veteran typically starts with their primary care provider. But if they need care from a specialist, such as a cardiologist or a physical therapist, they traditionally must get a referral, schedule a separate appointment, and then wait for the appointment for an assessment and treatment plan.

June 27 is National PTSD Screening Day. The National Center for PTSD is encouraging Veterans and others who experienced trauma to start the conversation about recovery. Learning whether you have symptoms that might be PTSD is an important step to getting the treatment you deserve. Giving it a name helped Navy Veteran Tia Christopher. “When I was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), I wouldn’t say that I was surprised,” Christopher said.

At the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), primary care careers aren’t just about processing patients. Here, we develop a bond with the Veterans we help heal, using every available opportunity to strengthen those ties and build a community of caring around each Veteran. How do we do that? By being patient-centric, team-built, care-focused and well-balanced. For us, taking your time with Veterans is a priority.

Although recent deployments of the Federal Electronic Health Record (EHR) in Michigan and southern Ohio have been successful, that success has been built on listening to and collaborating with the initial sites that deployed the system. Deployments started in 2020 and, since then, have stopped, restarted, paused, reset, restarted again and now accelerated. For early adopters of the system, it has been… interesting. So, what do these early adopters think now?

Staff acted fast to get everyone out safely, avoiding tragedy It was a typical busy Monday morning at the Beaumont VA Outpatient Clinic. Exam rooms were filling up, phones were ringing and Veterans were checking in for their appointments, when the pouring rain gave way to something unexpected: a slow sag in the roof. Staff noticed it almost immediately.

VA’s Office of Research and Development recently published three News Briefs highlighting new findings on lung cancer survival rates, using AI for health apps, and a brain-computer interface. In a randomized clinical trial of 207 high-risk suicidal Veterans, led by researchers from the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx, those participating in VA’s Project Life Force (PLF) had a 51% lower risk of suicide attempts over one year.

VA updated its appraisal process regarding Minimum Property Requirements (MPRs)—the standards a property must meet to be eligible for a VA-guaranteed home loan—to reduce delays, cut outdated rules and help Veteran homebuyers move faster in a competitive housing market. The updates are now in effect, reflected in the revised VA Lenders Handbook (Pamphlet 26-7), Chapter 12. VA identified several long-standing MPR topics that frequently contributed to appraisal delays or added costs for Veterans.

Taking a closer look at the 2025 Point-in-Time Count results In May 2026, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the long-awaited results of the 2025 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, the annual effort to estimate the number of Americans, including Veterans, without a home.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs today announced it made more than $36 billion in payments to local healthcare providers across the country in fiscal year 2025 as part of the bipartisan VA MISSION Act. President Trump signed the MISSION Act in 2018 after it passed Congress with widespread bipartisan support. The law created a benefit that lets eligible Veterans choose care from authorized local, non-VA healthcare providers at VA expense.

Kicking off the historic Independence Day weekend’s festivities for the nation’s Semiquincentennial, “A Capitol Fourth: 250th weekend celebration” will be broadcast live and streamed nationwide from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on Friday, July 3, from 8:00 – 9:30 p.m. ET. Joining the birthday bash is multi-platinum hitmaker and country music icon Trace Adkins.