Health care for Vancouver-area veterans will get a share of $33.9 million allocated to the VA Portland Health Care System.
In a Friday afternoon release, Director Joanne M. Krumberger announced funds have been released to support hiring additional staff to improve access to care through the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, commonly referred to as the Choice Act.
The $33.9 million over fiscal years 2015 and 2016 will fund about 200 new employees in the Portland system. The new positions are specifically earmarked toward direct patient care staff to improve timely access for primary care, mental health, and specialty care services, Krumberger said.
The regional funding is part of a $5 billion allocation provided by the Choice Act.
Specific staff increases at regional sites, including Vancouver’s Veterans Affairs campus, have not been determined yet, said Dan Herrigstad, VA Portland Health Care System spokesman.
“There is still some analysis to do,” Herrigstad said.
The Vancouver VA facility is one of 12 sites in the VA Portland Health Care System. The system serves 90,000 veterans in 26 counties in northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington.
The new full-time equivalent positions are: hospital and specialized medicine, 91.5; operative care, 60.4; primary care, 21; mental health, 14.25; imaging, 2; audiology, 4; rehabilitation and long-term care, 2; pathology and lab, 2; pharmacy, 5.
Some of those hires will help staff a new primary care clinic that will be built on the Vancouver VA site. Another Vancouver facility will be sited in 12,000 square feet of leased space.
“The VA owes our nation’s veterans the best care possible, and in turn, Congress is responsible for giving VA the resources they need to live up to that obligation,” U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Friday in a news release. “That’s why I fought to ensure that the Choice Act provided an additional $5 billion to provide timely, high quality care for our veterans.
“Today’s announcement means that veterans in Southwest Washington will have more doctors and more resources to get they care they deserve, and I won’t stop working until every single veteran is satisfied with their VA care,” said Murray, former chairwoman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
