High-Tech & High-Touch Health Care
May marked 20 years since the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs launched its Telehealth Services program office.
In his January 20, 2003, address to Congress, then-VA Under Secretary Robert Roswell announced the creation of the office, which set out to “support field staff in the national deployment of care coordination and home telehealth.”
The Butler VA began offering telehealth services in the early 2000s, first with home telehealth and a video call method. Once the Butler VA’s Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) opened, Clinical Video Telehealth (CVT) started taking off. The Butler VA’s MOVE! Program first started using CVT in 2006 and continues to use this form of telehealth at all 5 outpatient clinics to this day.
VA Telehealth Services has expanded the use of telehealth to millions of Veterans, building on VA’s long history of using technology to deliver care. Today, VA is recognized as a world leader in the development and use of telehealth. In fiscal 2022 alone, more than 2.3 million Veterans nationwide received VA care through telehealth. At the Butler VA, 21,528 visits were completed via telehealth in primary care, mental health care, and specialty care services.
“The Butler VA uses telehealth to expand VA’s reach beyond the traditional office visit to connect with Veterans where they are. Whether we’re ‘meeting’ with Veterans from their cell phone, or from a community clinic, we strive to provide our Veterans with the soonest and best care for them,” said Breigh Speidel, Connected Care Program Manager.
VA has created many ways to deliver telehealth so that Veterans have options to fit their needs. Three of the main ways the Butler VA delivers telehealth includes—
- Clinic-to-clinic Video Telehealth (CVT). Veterans connect with VA health specialists at VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) nationwide — all from the Veteran’s nearby community clinic. Rather than traveling long distances to meet with VA specialists, Veterans can go to their nearest clinic and meet with specialists through VA telehealth.
- Remote Patient Monitoring – Home Telehealth (RPM – HT). A Veteran can use remote technologies to track their vital signs, symptoms, and other health information. The technologies share this data with a dedicated VA care team that can monitor the Veteran’s health status and collaborate with VA providers to address Veteran’s health care needs in between in-person visits.
- VA Video Connect (VVC). VA’s secure videoconferencing app, enables Veterans and their caregivers to meet with VA providers quickly and easily on any smartphone, tablet, or computer with an internet connection directly from their homes or any other location based on Veterans’ preferences.
The Butler VA offers VA Video Connect (VVC) for most of its clinics and CVT for specialty care services—to include but not limited to Audiology, Cardiology, Neurology, Rheumatology and Diabetes care and management. We also offer Tele-Dermatology services to many other VA regions across the nation!
“How Veterans connect with VA has completely changed in the era of the internet. I connect regularly with Veterans in-person, on the phone and via video and I like knowing that it honors their preference for just-in-time care,” said Lauren Heiger, Butler VA’s My HealtheVet Coordinator. “I invite Veterans to use the VA Appointment Summary in the My HealtheVet web portal because it includes VA Telephone visits, In-Person visits, Community Care appointments AND Video appointments -- with video links for the Veteran to easily connect with their VA health care team. I also tell them that the video appointment option is an access to care option with no co-pay. How great is that?”
Learn more about telehealth at the Butler VA and get started today: https://www.va.gov/butler-health-care/programs/connected-care/