The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is committed to ensuring every Veteran receives timely access to high-quality healthcare. Recognizing the diverse needs and geographical distribution of the veteran population, the VA has launched the Patient Centered Community Care (PCCC) program. This initiative marks a significant step forward in expanding healthcare options for veterans, ensuring they can receive the necessary care, when and where they need it.
The Va Patient Centered Community Care Program is an innovative approach designed to supplement the care provided within VA medical centers. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki highlighted PCCC as “an innovative solution” that empowers VA medical centers to “continue to provide quality care efficiently.” The core aim of the program is to address situations where VA facilities face limitations, whether due to geographical barriers or capacity constraints. In these instances, PCCC enables VA centers to purchase care from community-based providers, ensuring veterans do not experience gaps in their healthcare coverage.
Under the VA Patient Centered Community Care program, eligible veterans gain access to a comprehensive range of medical services outside of traditional VA facilities. This includes inpatient specialty care, outpatient specialty care, and crucial mental health services. Furthermore, the program extends to limited emergency care and, importantly, limited newborn care for female veterans enrolled in VA healthcare following childbirth. Dr. Robert Petzel, VA’s Under Secretary for Health, emphasized that PCCC serves as a “regional contracting vehicle” enabling the VA to collaborate with “local community providers.” This collaboration is vital to provide veterans with “access to high quality care” closer to their homes and communities. Ultimately, the program reinforces the VA’s commitment to “ensure timely and accessible services are provided to Veterans for non-VA medical care.”
To operationalize the VA Patient Centered Community Care program, the VA has awarded contracts to two leading healthcare organizations: Health Net Federal Services LLC and TriWest Healthcare Alliance Corp. These contracts, valued at an estimated $9.4 billion over a base year and four option years, task these companies with establishing regional networks of community providers across six designated regions, effectively covering the entire United States. The VA anticipates these regional networks to be fully accessible to its medical centers by Spring 2014, marking a significant expansion in the program’s reach and impact.
The VA Patient Centered Community Care program is a key component of the broader Non-VA Medical Care Program. It provides VA facilities with a crucial additional avenue for procuring non-VA medical services. This becomes particularly important when required veteran care services are either unavailable within a VA medical facility or when receiving care closer to home offers a significant benefit to the veteran.
Veterans and the VA both stand to gain significantly from the VA Patient Centered Community Care program. The contracts associated with PCCC incorporate standardized health care quality metrics, ensuring consistent and high standards of care across the network. They also guarantee the timely return of essential medical documentation, streamline administrative processes, and introduce cost avoidance through fixed service rates. Moreover, PCCC guarantees veterans access to needed care and enhances the tracking and reporting of non-VA medical care expenditures, offering greater transparency and accountability compared to traditional non-VA medical care services.
For veterans seeking more detailed information about the VA Patient Centered Community Care program and its benefits, further resources are available.
