VA tries to improve care for veterans in rural areas

Veterans often face health challenges as they return from active duty, but rural veterans face the added obstacle of getting to Department of Veterans Affairs health centers, often far from their homes. The VA has started a pilot project to alleviate some of those challenges.

A VA press release Wednesday said the department is creating mobile health clinics that will bring primary care and mental-health services to rural areas far from VA hospitals or outpatient clinics. The Rural Mobile Health Care Clinics will begin in 2009 with four clinics dispatched to counties in Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Maine, Washington, and West Virginia. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Dr. James B. Peake said, “Health care should be based upon the needs of patients, not their ability to travel to a clinic or medical center.”

This announcement was made only a few days after VA announced it would open three Veterans Rural Health Resource Centers on Oct. 1. These centers will try to "identify disparities in health care for rural veterans and formulate practices or programs to enhance the delivery of care."