Health Care

VA reduced the number of Veterans with opioid prescriptions by 67% since 2012, from 874,897 Veterans in 2012 to 288,820 in 2023

The Department of Veterans Affairs announces several critical steps forward on its Veteran suicide prevention initiatives, including $52.5 million in new Veteran suicide prevention grants, a new set of Veteran suicide prevention public service announcements (PSA), and — for the first time — statistics on the impact of VA’s new program offering free emergency medical care to Veterans in acute suicidal crisis at any VA or non-VA health care facility.

The Department of Veterans Affairs announces a historic partnership with the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute to share cancer registry information.

Until 11:59 p.m. local time Sept. 30, 2023, Veterans who deployed to a combat zone, never enrolled in VA health care, and left active duty between Sept. 11, 2001 and Oct. 1, 2013 are eligible to enroll directly in VA health care.

The Department of Veterans Affairs will deploy 25 mobile medical units across the country during the next six months to provide health care and support to homeless and at-risk Veterans.

A new partnership between VA and the American Association of Kidney Patients works to improve everyday lives of Veterans with kidney disease

Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that 67% of VA hospitals included in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) annual Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings received either 4 or 5 stars, compared to only 41% of non-VA hospitals. This was the first time VA hospitals were included in the CMS Star Ratings.

WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it will conduct a scientific review to determine whether there is a relationship between three conditions

For the first time, legal service grants are being awarded $11.5 million to assist Veterans who are homeless or those at-risk of being homeless.

The Department of Veterans Affairs establishes Agency Equity Team to ensure VA delivers its promise on providing world-class care and benefits to all Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors — regardless of their age, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, or sexual identity.

The Department of Veterans Affairs relaxes masking requirement at VA medical facilities. VA facilities will no longer universally require masks in most clinical areas.

Thank you, Robyn Sunday-Allen for that kind introduction and, more importantly, for your exemplary leadership and service to Native people.