Abstract
The Veteran Benefit Agency can often be shrouded in mystery. While we can't demystify everything about the VA we can shed some light on what the VA's current policies are towards Community Clinic. We will present who we, the VA are, what we do, how Veteran’s earn their benefits, and how we can assist and “partner” with our community to provide the best care possible for our nation’s Veterans. You will learn the current policies and rules associated with VA Benefits and how it can affect our local clinic communities. Not only will you become informed about how VA benefits work but you will be able to have the resources and information available to help our military community and provide them with the best access to healthcare possible.
Presenters
Hematology/Oncology Care Coordinator
White River Jct. VT VAHCS
Sandra has worked for the VA Medical Center for 23 years. She has worked in her current case management (CM) position for approximately 10 years and the last nine months as the Hematology/Oncology Care Coordinator.
As the CM, she works with my community partners every day. In doing so, she has come to realize that our community partners do not have a good understanding of who the VA is, what they do, and how the VA and Community can work together as one team in providing the care that our nations Veteran’s deserve. In 2010, Sandra and another VA CM, with the support of the VA Office of Rural Health, developed an educational program for community partner’s to help them understand the VA. This program helps to to identify specific Veteran needs, what clinicians (VA and Community) do well for them currently, and what needs to be done better.
"Our nations Veterans belong to us all and we need to be the most cohesive team possible if we are going to provide them the best care possible"
-Sandra Filiault
Primary Care Physician,
White River Junction VA Medical Center, VT
Don Kollisch, is a Family Doctor with deep roots in Rural Practice. He began his career in 1980 in a small private practice in Northern New Hampshire for 11 years before moving into academia at the Dartmouth Medical School (now Geisel). While there he started the Rural Health Scholars program, the Rural Health Symposium, and developed a Rural Health curriculum. He was active in the NRHA, and helped start the Rural Medical Educators program. He is now a staff physician at the VA Medical Center in White River Junction, and is a strong believer in research-based evidence as a basis for health care policy.
Director, VISN 1 Clinical Contact Center
James Schlosser has worked in the Veterans Health Administration for over 18 years. He has been involved in a variety of roles and is currently a Staff Physician at the Manchester VA Center in New Hampshire and is the Director at the Clinical Contact centers in Bedford, MA. Dr. Schlosser received his MD at New York Upstate Medical University in 1977 after graduating from Cornell University in 1974. He also received his MBA at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 1986. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine. He has been involved in the Dartmouth CO-OP PBRN as a Co-PI for the VA Dual Care Project which looks at Veteran perception of communication between Veteran's healthcare providers in their community and in the VA.