If you plan on traveling or relocating this year, with some planning, VA will be with you every mile of the way.
Marine Corps Veteran Gabrielle Reynoso in Joshua Tree National Park
Veterans enrolled in VA health care receive the same standard of care while traveling as they would at home. It’s as simple as coordinating with your VA health care team to ensure you have a plan before you leave.
“Temporarily transferring or permanently relocating your VA health care is easy, and we encourage Veterans to reach out to their VA provider before departing,” said Mark Lyons, VHA traveling Veteran coordinator lead. “VA always strives to deliver high-quality and accessible health care while on the road and at home. This is part of our patient-aligned care team charter. If they let us know, we can coordinate care they might need.”
Temporarily relocated Veterans should notify their VA Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) or specialty care provider/team of the travel destination, temporary address, dates of travel and contact phone number. They should also provide any specific health care questions.
A traveling Veteran coordinator ensures care is coordinated per your provider’s request via the Traveling/Relocating Veteran Consult. This consult helps register you at the new VA and provides a handoff to your new facility. The traveling Veteran coordinators at both sites will work to ensure your care needs are ordered locally and scheduling occurs timely.
Discussing current prescriptions and the plan for getting refills is also essential when talking with your health care team before travel.
All VA medical centers have a Traveling Veteran Coordinator. Notifying your health care team 4-6 weeks before travel is highly recommended to ensure seamless care, particularly if you need medication refills or regular medical appointments.
Resources for traveling Veterans
Use of Secure Messaging within the Home – My HealtheVet – My HealtheVet (va.gov) portal is an easy and additional way for traveling Veterans to access care from their assigned VA health care team.
- Need emergency care while traveling? Be ready for anything and learn about VA’s emergency medical care program.
- Find a VA facility here.
- Veterans are encouraged to contact the Foreign Medical Program when traveling outside of the U.S. and U.S territories.
- Also, don’t forget to update your address on file if your mailing address is changing. Updates can be done in minutes online on VA.gov.
- While traveling, take advantage of the United States’ 400+ National Parks; disabled Veterans are eligible for a free National Park Service Lifetime Access Pass.
- Emergency preparedness resources to assist Veterans before, during and after an emergency can be found here: Veterans & Emergency Management – VHA Office of Emergency Management (va.gov).
- More information on seamless care for traveling Veterans is at: https://www.va.gov/health-care/about-va-health-benefits/where-you-go-for-care/.
Topics in this story
More Stories
Bob Jesse Award celebrates the achievements of a VA employee and a team or department that exemplifies innovative practices within VA.
The Medical Foster Home program offers Veterans an alternative to nursing homes.
Watch the Under Secretary for Health and a panel of experts discuss VA Health Connect tele-emergency care.
This is an excellent Article. I have many Veteran friends and I have posted on Facebook for them to read.
When was this traveling coordinator role established? I moved from New Jersey to New York before they became one VISN. Coordinating between two different VISNs was and continues to be problematic.
Please have someone get in touch with me, I am 100% disabled (chemical poisoning)-I have spent in excess of $15,000. VA THAI AGREEMENT FOR DV IS UNBELIEVABLE , you can message me
PLEASE GET IN TOUCH !!!!!
Traveling Veteran’s Coordinators are a JOKE!!!! The one who is supposed to be assisting me and is based in Salem, Virginia at the Salem VAMC….does NOTHING and is impossible to speak to. I have had to contact the Hospital Director’s office several times in an effort to obtain assistance. My experience
with the Traveling Veteran’s Coordinator based in Ocala, Florida has been the same…rude and unresponsive. If they are VA Employees they need to be replaced! Disgusting….I am a 100% disabled Veteran…..I am registered at the Salem VAMC but live in Florida several months each year and am being monitored by Dr. Babs from the Infectious Disease department at the Gainesville Veterans Hospital and I need assistance to receive needed care while
I am in Florida….but it’s virtually impossible. I don’t expect that this dissertation will go any farther than this page…that’s the way things function in the government.
Greetings, I am Gary Wells. I moved from Atlanta, Ga to Kinston, NC. I notified my PC and was told to contact your services.