The Department of Veterans Affairs is expanding access to its Veteran-Directed Care, Home-Based Primary Care, and Medical Foster Home programs.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is expanding access to its Veteran-Directed Care, Medical Foster Home, and Home-Based Primary Care programs through 2026, the agency announced on Jan. 24.

Each program is administered by the VA’s Office of Geriatric and Extended Care, which offers veterans alternatives to traditional nursing home care. Once complete, the programs will be available at all VA medical centers in California and the United States.

“These evidence-based programs allow veterans to age-in-place, avoid or delay nursing home placement and choose the care environment that aligns most with their care needs, preferences and goals,” said Scotte Hartronft, the office’s executive director. 

Hartronft also noted that veterans within these programs are less likely to experience adverse circumstances, such as infectious disease, nursing home readmission, hospitalization, or emergency medical care compared to veterans receiving nursing home care in other settings.

The Office of Geriatric and Extended Care is expanding these programs in light of projections that suggest the number of veterans requiring nursing home care will more than double by the late 2030s.

The programs:

• Veteran-Directed Care provides eligible veterans with a budget to choose their own help for personal care services, such as help bathing, cooking, or similar tasks.
• The VA’s Medical Foster Homes function similarly to nursing homes, but in a “non-institutional setting with fewer residents.” 
• Home-Based Primary Care allows veterans with “complex health care needs for whom routine clinic-based care is not effective.”

The news comes not long after a Government Accountability Office investigation found that the VA could improve accountability at its Community Living Centers, where complaints are almost exclusively handled at the CLC level rather than being forwarded to VA leadership.

Author: Christian Southards

Coming from a family with a proud military background and wanting to contribute his writing skills to a worthy cause, Christian began writing for the California American Legion in August of 2020. His father is a 25-year Army Veteran and his grandfather served in the Navy during Vietnam.