As established in VHA Directive 2007-033, providing access to telephone care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (24/7) is a VHA Health Care Service Standard.  VHA has provided telephone care policy since 1994, setting goals and standards for telephone care in an effort to continuously improve the service it provides.  National efforts have been underway to provide a more satisfying and high quality experience for Veterans.

The Offices of Primary Care, and Quality & Performance have established a national initiative for VHA Regional/VISN Call Centers to achieve national accreditation in telephone care.  The purpose of accreditation is to demonstrate effective, efficient and high quality telephone care as determined by gold standards established for this field.

The Offices of Primary Care and Systems Redesign have partnered together and implemented a national telephone collaborative.  The national telephone collaborative is focused on training telephone teams in systems redesign and process improvement principles in order to provide better telephone service to Veterans.

Telephone care is a critical component in providing our nations Veterans with a high quality, satisfying health care experience.  VHA is committed to improving telephone care processes and practices nationwide.

Questions can be emailed to our staff.