Inforum - Hoeven Unveils Pilot Project to Help Area Veterans Deal With VA Medical Center

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By Dave Olson

A new initiative will allow veterans seeking health care through the Veterans Choice Program to coordinate all of their needs through the Fargo VA Medical Center.

The Veterans Care Coordination Program was unveiled Tuesday, Oct. 4, by U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, who made a stop in Fargo to highlight the pilot initiative, which he had pushed for along with fellow U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp.

The Veterans Choice Program, which has been in place for some time, allows veterans to receive care from a private health provider in their community if they have experienced unacceptable waiting times, or if a VA medical center is not accessible.

Hoeven said the new Veterans Care Coordination Program will help veterans in North Dakota and western Minnesota receive care in their own communities when VA facilities are not available or timely. It will also allow them to coordinate directly with VA officials instead of working with HealthNet, a third-party contractor that has been providing coordinating services for the Veterans Choice Program.

The pilot project was set up because veterans were experiencing problems like dropped appointments and long wait times on the phone, Hoeven said.

He said HealthNet, which is also contracted to make provider reimbursements under the Veterans Choice Program, was declining or delaying payments to local health care providers treating veterans, which resulted in veterans getting payments denied and forcing them to deal with an appeals process.

Although HealthNet will still be in charge of reimbursing health care providers, area hospitals and clinics can now deal directly with the VA, just as veterans can call the VA directly instead of going through Health Net, Hoeven said.

"They (veterans) can work with our Fargo VA to get that appointment, whether they want to go into the VA directly or whether they want to go to their local health care provider, and for the local health care provider (the pilot program) makes sure they get paid," Hoeven said. He believes the initiative could be a model for other VA facilities around the country.

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp said in a release that making sure veterans can use the Fargo VA to schedule appointments is a critical step in fixing the Veterans Choice Program and a move she's long called for.

"When I held a roundtable on the Choice Program in Grand Forks in August, I heard from veterans, the VA, and health providers about how to fix the program -- and scheduling difficulties cropped up again and again in our discussion," she said in the release. "Going forward, I'll keep fighting to reform the Choice Program and guarantee our brave veterans get the care they need in their home communities."

Lavonne Liversage, director of the Fargo VA center, said she isn't sure how many more veterans will use the Veterans Choice Program because of the new pilot project, but she expects usage will increase.

"Veterans got frustrated with the Choice Program," she said, adding that when veterans or health care providers now call (866) 517-9363 for assistance, they will talk to VA staff. HealthNet will also have someone at the Fargo site working with the local VA team.

About 32,500 veterans seek care from the Fargo VA system annually, Liversage said.

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