The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was established as long ago as 1636 when the early Americans were warring with the local Pequot Indians. The goal was to support disabled soldiers and show respect for the duty they had provided. Since that time, the United States has developed the world’s most comprehensive system of assistance for veterans.
In 2009, President Obama spearheaded a transformation of the VA, enacting three guiding principles to allow the agency to be people-centric, results-driven and forward-looking. Along with those principles, 16 initiatives were put in place, including:
- Eliminating Veteran homelessness
- Enabling 21st century benefits delivery and services
- Automating GI Bill benefits
- Creating Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record
- Improving Veterans' mental health
- Building Veterans Relationship Management capability to enable convenient, seamless interactions
- Designing a Veteran-centric health care model to help Veterans navigate the health care delivery system and receive coordinated care
- Enhancing the Veteran experience and access to health care
- Ensuring preparedness to meet emergent national needs
- Developing capabilities and enabling systems to drive performance and outcomes.
- Establishing strong VA management infrastructure and integrated operating model
- Transforming human capital management
- Performing research and development to enhance the long-term health and well-being of Veterans
- Optimizing the utilization of VA's Capital portfolio by implementing and executing the Strategic Capital Investment Planning (SCIP) process
- Improving the quality of health care while reducing cost
- Transforming health care delivery through health informatics
To learn more about the services made possible through the VA, head to the department’s official website. With so many advantages to take advantage of, we here at Freedom Home Care wouldn’t want our clients to miss out.
